This Year Supposed To Be Different

Before last night, it appeared that the 2004-05 edition of the Harvard women’s basketball team would be wholly different from last year’s squad.

Then came last night’s 72-69 loss to Northeastern (3-4).

“They hit big shots when they needed to. We didn’t,” Crimson coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “I mean, we could have put the game away in regulation several times.”

That sounds dishearteningly similar to the anthem heard throughout last season. On a team loaded with stars, it seemed Harvard’s M.O. was to get into unnecessarily close games and then tighten up when it came down to the nitty-gritty.

In the Crimson’s second game this year, at home against Rhode Island, it looked like it would follow that pattern, as the Rams took advantage of sloppy play to maintain a lead throughout the game. But Harvard (4-2) rallied to send the game into overtime, and in the extra period, put together five solid minutes of basketball to come away with the win.

“This was an absolute steal,” Delaney-Smith said after the URI game. “We should never have won this game.”

But the Crimson did manage to win the contest while not playing its best. It seemed this squad, while not as flashy as last year’s, would make up in attitude for what it lacked in pure talent.

This team also doesn’t have the huge expectations last year’s team did, coming off an undefeated Ivy schedule in 2002 and not graduating any starters.

And the season’s schedule is less ambitious, as Colorado and Rutgers, a pair of top-20 teams last season, have been replaced with Fairfield and Binghamton.

But Harvard will still play Old Dominion, a very good team, and the Crimson does have captain center Reka Cserny and a healthy junior guard Jess Holsey, arguably two of the top three players in the Ivy League.

Skill abounds, and this team is capable of making a lot of noise, though not a lot of noise had been made about it.

The Crimson was picked second in the pre-season Ivy poll to Dartmouth, another reason why it seemed that the pounds of pressure that weighed on Harvard’s shoulders last year would be lifted.

Last night’s game was reminiscent of another overtime thriller at Lavietes. Harvard hosted the Big Green last season on Jan. 10 in its Ivy opener, and let Dartmouth hang around all game.

Then-Big Green guard Angie Soriaga hit a desperation 30-footer as the buzzer sounded to bring about the extra frame, where the Crimson was unable to stem the Dartmouth push and fell 93-88.

The change in momentum could be felt last night, and there seemed little doubt that Harvard lost its edge for good when Michelle Decerbo hit a jumper early in OT to put Northeastern ahead for good.

“We just have to make sure that we maintain our confidence, and that we don’t lose these close games,” Cserny said.

—Staff writer J. Patrick Coyne can be reached at coyne@fas.harvard.edu.