W. Hoops Hosts Bears, Elis in Ivy Weekend

The Harvard women's basketball stands at the halfway point of its season with two blemishes on its Ivy record. The time to make amends for those mistakes is now.

The Crimson (8-12, 5-2 Ivy) will tip off against Brown (10-11, 5-3) at 6 p.m. in Lavietes Pavilion tonight. The Bears defeated Harvard, 59-57, in their last meeting on the cusp of Harvard's exam period.

The Crimson led by as many as seven points in the second half in that game, but Brown's unexpected sharp shooting and Harvard's free throw woes allowed the Bears to come back.

Freshman forwards Hana Peljto and Tricia Tubridy each hit clutch shots to propel Harvard down the stretch, but the Bears outwitted the Crimson in the end, stifling junior guard Jenn Monti with a double-team on the game's last play.

Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith believes that the Crimson is sufficiently capable of reversing those results tonight.

"We can beat Brown, I know that," Delaney-Smith said. "That game was stolen from us, but we shouldn't have been in the place where it was stolen. I hope we will change that."

Tonight's game is critically important to the Ivy title race. Penn (15-5, 7-0) has won 14 straight--albeit some in precarious fashion--to move two games up on the rest of the league. Harvard and Brown, second and third in the Ivies, have little margin for error in catching the Quakers.

"Penn is a great team and they connect well with each other," Peljto said. "But there's still time to see who'll came out on top. The title is still up for grabs."

The Bears' title hopes appear to be fading fast, as the team has lost three straight Ivy games after a surprising 5-0 start. Since falling to Penn two weekends ago, Brown has been stymied at Cornell and Columbia, both of whom Harvard defeated at Lavietes the week before.

In the continued absence of leading scorer Barbara Maloni, the Bears have been led by Rachael MacDonald who is averaging 10 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. The Crimson defenders will need to be tougher on her tonight in order to prevent a repeat of last month's disappointment, in which MacDonald burned Harvard for 18 points. Forward Rada Pavichevich is also averaging 10 points per game for the Bears.

Maloni, one of the nation's top ten scorers before her injury, has now missed 11 consecutive games since being sidelined with stress fractures. Maloni is reportedly practicing with the team again, but Harvard's schedule may be perfectly aligned to avoid her altogether this season.

For the Crimson, junior forward Katie Gates is on hot streak. She led the team with 13 points against Penn last Saturday and scored a career-high 16 the next day against Princeton.

Peljto--who was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the third time on Monday--continues to lead Harvard in scoring and rebounding. She had 18 points and paced Harvard's second half comeback against Princeton last week.

Tomorrow at 6 p.m., the Crimson will host Yale (6-15, 1-7). Sophomore guard Maria Smear--one of the nation's most accurate three-point shooters at 44.2 percent--leads the team with 11.8 points per game. In Harvard's 54-40 win at Yale on Jan. 12, the Crimson held Smear to single digits. Harvard is the only team to hold Yale under 50 all season.

Although the Elis may be last in the league, they have come closer than anyone else in the Ivies to beating Penn. At home on Feb. 2, Yale took a five-point lead into the final two minutes before falling 92-80 in overtime. In comparison, the Quakers handled Harvard, 65-51, at the Palestra last Saturday.

"[The Quakers] are close with each other which is why I think they always pull out [the close games]," Peljto said. "But anyone can beat anyone on any given night."

Harvard will get its second chance against Penn at Lavietes in just over a week, but for that game to remain meaningful, the Crimson will have to take care of business this week and pull off the sweep.