Crimson Readies For Road

Harvard Women's Basketball Coach Kathy Delaney Smith has an idea of what she might like to see this weekend on the road.

"You know, we'd love to just drive those hundreds miles up to Columbia, earn an easy win, drive five more hours to Cornell, arrive at 4:00 in the morning, win there, and then drive the hundreds of miles home," she said.

A sense of apprehension? Dread, perhaps? Can you blame her?

Harvard just hasn't had much fun road tripping this season. Maybe the bus fumes give the Crimson a headache, maybe it's just that no one knows any good show tunes (hey--try the "Grease" soundtrack). In any case, Harvard sports a 2-6 record away from Briggs Cage.

But even though this weekend doesn't present the best conditions in terms of location, everything else points to two Crimson wins.

First of all, Harvard (13-9 overall, 8-3 Ivy) is securely in second place in the Ancient Eight. Columbia (7-17, 1-11) is in last place while Cornell (9-13, 3-9) is barely holding on to seventh.

But Harvard isn't counting its eggs just yet, no matter what the statistics indicate will happen.

Coming off a rough weekend that saw Brown--paced by 6'5" Martina Jerant, Ivy Player of the week for the third week straight--clinch the league title at Briggs Cage, the Crimson refuses to take any win for granted.

"Record-wise, we definitely have an advantage," Delaney Smith said. "But it's the last weekend of Ivy play, they're both in their own gyms, and they have nothing to lose.

"And teams that have nothing to lose can come out and be very dangerous."

Friday night's matchup at Columbia might be "hard to get pumped up for," Delaney Smith added.

Even though the Crimson whipped the Lions 85-53 earlier this season, Columbia is "well-coached and won't let down," she said.

As for Saturday's contest in Ithaca, the Crimson needs little more than the memory of Harvard's rough-and-tumble 84-71 victory over Cornell to get motivated.

"I think that some of our players remember a few cheap shots that were made," Delaney Smith said, referring not to field goals, but words exchanged when Cornell guard Suzy Onze fouled out late in the second half.

"The revenge factor is really going to get both teams pumped up," Delaney Smith said.

Not only will the Crimson be cracking some Big Red skulls--hopefully, it'll be smashing records left and right in the process.

With 1,281 career points, senior Co-Caption Debbie Flandermeyer is 23 points away from becoming Harvard's all-time second leading scorer.

Sophomore Tammy Butler--the league's leading rebounder with 11.6 rpg--is 15 boards away from setting the Crimson record for most rebounds in a season. And the shooting performance of Co-Caption Erin Maher will be a continuous record in the making, as the senior guard presently leads the all-time scoring list with her 1,331 career markers.

NOTES: Elsewhere in the Ivy League, Pennsylvania and Princeton travel to Yale and Brown. Having won five of their last six, Princeton is a likely candidate to defeat Ivy champ Brown...The 10-0 Bears have the opportunity to become the first-ever undefeated women's basketball team in the Ancient Eight...Harvard will end its season next. Tuesday at Dartmouth.