Intersession Is Last Tune-Up for Crimson

At the midway point of the winter season, Harvard's two major women's teams--basketball and hockey--are in first place, while their male counterparts are struggling to make up ground in the standings.

They'll all try to shake off the rust of a two-week layoff with some non-conference warm-ups. Here's a look at how the Crimson's winter warriors will spend intersession:

Women's basketball

In a scheduling move to help it recover from exams, the Harvard women's basketball team will face SUNY-Albany in a non-league game Saturday at Lavietes Pavilion.

The Great Danes enter the contest against Harvard (9-5, 3-0 Ivy) with a 5-12 record, but they have two proven scorers in their backcourt.

Senior Megan Buchanan, a 5'11 guard, and 5'10 junior guard Liz Tucker will make Harvard sophomore Jenn Monti, who is seventh in the country with 7.4 assists per game, and senior Courtney Egelhoff work hard on defense.

Buchanan scored 33 points in a 75-72 loss to Cornell on Dec. 3, and led the team with 31 points in a 75-72 overtime loss to Lehigh on Jan. 15. The Crimson will be able to counter with its outside threats in Egelhoff and captain Laela Sturdy, who is shooting 50 percent from long distance, good for seventh in the country.

Harvard should get most of its points in the paint. Albany has one player at 6'2 and two players at 6'1, but the remaining 10 players on its roster don't crack the 6'0 mark. Harvard has 10 players 6'0 and over, including junior center Melissa Johnson at 6'5 and her sister Sarah at 6'4.

It should be no problem for the Harvard guards to loft the ball into the Johnson sisters on the blocks for turnarounds and lay-ups. Melissa Johnson is currently ninth in the country with 11.4 rebounds per game.

Albany, which is riding a three-game losing streak, has a 62-51 win over Brown under its belt but fell 66-50 to Holy Cross. The Crimson, which is riding a three-game winning streak and a six-game home winning streak, has a 73-64 win over Brown, but suffered an 89-61 setback to Holy Cross. Earlier this season, Albany went through a dismal nine-game losing streak, going 0-for-December in the process.

Men's hockey

The lengthy exam break gives the Harvard men's hockey team enough

tough to relax, unwind, and lose its competitive edge right before its most important games of the regular season.

The Crimson (7-10-1, 6-6-1 ECAC) finds itself in seventh place in the ECAC, .05 win-percentage points out of a three-way tie for fourth place. Before plunging back into conference play, it will take on the University of New Brunswick (11-8 Atlantic University Athletic Association) in an exhibition game.

Traditionally, Harvard has used this match to regain its skating legs

And give some of its little-used players some ice time. Roster rules have been relaxed in the past, and last year Harvard dressed five forward lines.

Though the teams may bend the rules, this is far from an easy-going exhibition match. The game counts in the standings for the Varsity Reds, which is comprised almost entirely of older players who could not advance past major junior hockey and have returned to school to get a college degree.

They play a rougher style of hockey, and the danger for injury is always high, especially because the Crimson may not be in peak game shape. UNB also has a high propensity to drop the gloves for a fight, an act that would carry a one-game suspension for any Harvard pugilist, exhibition match or not.

The Crimson has been on a training schedule limited by each player's study needs. Last year, Harvard edged UNB 3-2 on a late third-period goal by then-sophomore winger Chris Bala in an extremely tough contest.

Hopefully, this will be the game where junior winger Steve Moore and Bala get untracked. The ultra-talented forwards have combined for just 25 points in 34 total games played.

Men's basketball

At the midpoint of its season, the Harvard men's basketball team has the same record it had at this time last year, but has taken a vastly different route to get there.

Last year, Harvard had posted impressive non-conference wins over B.C. and Santa Clara by the exam break, but stumbled to a 1-3 Ivy start, including two losses to Dartmouth.

The Crimson (7-9, 2-2 Ivy) rode a two-game sweep of traveling partner Dartmouth--picked in some preseason polls to finish as high as second in the Ivy League--to first place in the conference in early January. But a pair of lackluster road losses to Yale and Brown has sent Harvard into its exam break reeling.

Junior center Tim Coleman has held down the Harvard frontcourt in Dan Clemente's absence, and is enjoying by far his best season at Harvard. Coleman, who hadn't ever scored in double figures before this year, has 13 double-digit games and three double-doubles. He's eight in the Ivy with 14.6 points per game and third with 8.2 rebounds.

Captain Damian Long and freshman point guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman have anchored the backcourt. Long has found his scoring touch, averaging 14.1 points per game, and has 39 three-pointers, second in the conference behind Princeton's super-frosh Spencer Gloger. Prasse-Freeman leads the Ivy with 6.8 assists per game.

Harvard scheduled its last non-conference game of the season for next Monday at Hartford, a team it beat handily by 79-65 last year. The Crimson then closes its slate with 10 straight conference games.

Hartford (6-9, 4-4 America East) has won four of its last five after a six-game losing streak that included losses to tough non-conference competition, like a 97-61 decision at Miami on Dec. 11 and a 90-69 loss at Syracuse on Dec. 29.

Shooting guard Darrick Jackson, who averages 14.6 points per game, but shoots just 33.1 percent from the field, is the Hawks' leading scorer. He also hits 37.3 percent from three-point range, dangerous since the Crimson demonstrated vulnerability to the trey against Yale's Onaje Woodbine and Brown's Earl Hunt.

The Hartford frontcourt is solid, featuring forward Keyon Smith (11.7 points per game), rookie forward Pierre Johnson (10.4 points, 5.6 rebounds per game) and 6'10, 220-pound center Rob Sawicki (9.6 points, 5.8 rebounds per game).

The Hawks are prone to poor ballhandling, with 177 assists against 262 turnovers on the season, and shoot 40.2 percent from the field, while their opponents shoot 43.8 percent.

Women's hockey

The Harvard women's hockey team, the preseason favorite to win the national championship, is still No. 1 in the country at midseason. That's good enough for a long break over intersession.

The Crimson (13-2-2, 11-2-2 ECAC) has been practicing for about an hour a day over reading and exam periods. But now the practice sessions will get more intense as Harvard prepares for its toughest stretch of the regular season.

The Crimson will play nine games in February, and as many as six of those contests will be against ranked teams. Harvard plays No. 5 Northeastern, No. 8 Providence and No. 4 New Hampshire at home, and it will travel to No. 7 Dartmouth and No. 3 Brown. The Crimson could face Northeastern again if it advances to the Beanpot championship game, which will be at Bright Hockey Center Feb. 15.

Heading into the home stretch, Harvard has a two-point lead over UNH for first place in the ECAC. Junior wingers Tammy Shewchuk (21 goals, 19 assists) and Angie Francisco (14, 26), sophomore center Jen Botterill (15, 17) and sophomore defenseman Angela Ruggiero (11, 18) are all among the top 10 scorers in the conference.

Men's tennis

After finishing the fall season ranked No. 25 in the country and No. 1 in the northeast region, the Harvard men's tennis team entered the NCAA-mandated winter "dead period" where practices must be short, unofficial and individual. The season had been largely successful as the team won the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) fall team championship, defeating highly ranked teams like Princeton and Columbia.

But now the team is rested and hitting the courts to return for the winter-spring season. Tomorrow marks the first real practice since November and the team will stay busy during the intersession in Cambridge.

Friday through Sunday, the Crimson will host the Harvard Winter Invitational. 12 teams from across the country will descend on the Murr Center to play three flighted singles tournaments and two doubles tournaments. All of the Harvard team will be in action, except for still-injured co-captain John Doran, who is down with patella tendonitis, and co-captain Joe Green, who was injured a few weeks ago.

The tournament will be an opportunity for the team to get ready for a busy February. While none of the Crimson players qualified for next week's Rolex ITA singles tournament in Dallas, the team will play dual matches against Oklahoma State and Kansas in mid-February. The winter season will then culminate in the National Indoor Team Tournament in Kentucky on Feb. 24-27.