Women's Basketball Rebuilds and Reloads

Everyone hates the term, but most people would describe the 1998-99 season as a "rebuilding year" for the Harvard women's basketball team. But perhaps "reloading year" would be more accurate.

When the season began, the Crimson was hoping to replace five seniors, including All-American Allison Feaster '98. In the process, Harvard was gunning for an unprecedented fourth consecutive Ivy League title.

By year's end, the title seemed an afterthought, and Harvard had struggled to remain at .500 while battling a bizarre string of injuries and illnesses. The gap left by Feaster proved too large to fill in just one season, and the Crimson finished with an overall record of 10-15 and an Ivy mark of 7-7.

"I was definitely disappointed with our record," co-captain Suzie Miller said, "But the numbers don't show the talent we had."

The 1998-99 season did show a great deal of promise for Harvard's young squad. There was certainly no lack of drama, as 1999 became the year of the buzzer-beater for Harvard, all courtesy of the freshman class--arguably Harvard's most talented recruiting class ever.

The Crimson's year began at Boston University, where senior center Rose Janowski scored 29 points to lead Harvard to an 81-74 overtime victory. However, Harvard's problems began even earlier.

Numerous players were either sick or injured during the preseason, and the team never fully healed. From walking pneumonia to broken fingers to a season-long bout with whooping cough, Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith's team couldn't stay healthy, and that proved to be Harvard's downfall.

"[The injuries and sickness] made a huge impact," said Miller. "When you have 15 people on a team and not even 10 can make it to practice, you know something's up. We just didn't have a chance to gel."

Following its opening night win over B.U., the Crimson dropped eight of its next nine games, including six in a row. Harvard even had a contest at UNH cancelled because the Massachusetts Board of Health quarantined the team to campus due to its exposure to whooping cough.

As January began, the Crimson appeared to get back on the winning track with four straight wins, including its first three Ivy contests. The last of those wins, a victory at Dartmouth, was the first of Harvard's unbelievable moments.

With three seconds to play, the Crimson found itself down by one with the length of the court to go. The inbounds pass came to freshman guard Katie Gates inside Dartmouth's three-point arc. The rookie turned, took three dribbles past midcourt and heaved a 40-foot prayer that was answered, off the glass, at the buzzer, to lift Harvard to a 65-63 victory.

"The Dartmouth game was one of the most exciting games I've ever been a part of," said Miller, author of the eventual game-winning shot when Harvard defeated Stanford in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year.

The magic ended in Hanover for the Crimson. Following a two-and-a-half week hiatus for final exams, Harvard returned to the hardwood rusty and reinjured. The Crimson lost its next three contests, and in the process it lost its leading scorer for the season in junior forward Laela Sturdy.

Harvard managed to stay alive in the race for the Ivy title by winning its next two, but another three-game losing streak ended the Crimson's hopes for a fourth straight championship. Still, a heavy dose of drama was left for year's end.

In the final weekend of the season, a pair of home contests versus Brown and Yale, freshman point guard Jennifer Monti took center stage and salvaged respectability in an otherwise lackluster season for Harvard.

The situation in the Brown game was exactly that of the Dartmouth game. With time running down, Monti took the ball the length of the court and, while falling out of bounds with a defender's hand in her face, nailed an off-balance line-drive three-pointer as time expired to give the Crimson a 69-67 win.

Monti offered a reprise the next night. With Harvard trailing Yale by one, Monti dribbled the ball to the wing, ran around an attempted double-team by the Elis, drove the lane and laid the ball up and in as the buzzer sounded. That gave the Crimson a 54-53 victory and its third buzzer-beater of the season.

"We were inconsistent this year," Miller said. "We had moments of brilliance and moments of complete ineptitude, but the two buzzer-beaters against Brown and Yale were unbelievable."

Although Harvard fell to eventual league-champion Dartmouth in its final game, 1998-99 left the impression that the Crimson will quickly rise to the top of the league again.

The Crimson graduates four seniors: co-captains Miller and Sarah Russell, Janowski and Kelly Kinneen. But most impressive is what Harvard returns.

Monti and Gates will be back, and their talents should not surprise the league. Neither should they be surprised by freshmen Lindsay Ryba--who joined Monti on the Ivy League All-Rookie team--Laura Barnard or Sharon Nunamaker.

Several players who missed most of the 1998-99 season should be back and healthy as well. Sophomore guards Lisa Kowal and Carrie Larkworthy and co-captain-elect Sturdy should be back and ready to contribute big numbers to the Crimson's attack.

But Harvard's secret weapon could come in the form of 6'6 junior forward Melissa Johnson. Johnson transferred from the University of North Carolina and had to take this year off, but she is ready to take the Ivy League by storm next season.

"They are going to be awesome next year," said Miller. "It will come down to chemistry. But they will have more talent, and they will be very strong. They should crush people."

So the 1998-99 season did not go as planned for Harvard, but every team must take some time to reload its ammunition after so many years of success. The Crimson appears to have done that this year, and it should be gunning for another Ivy League title next season.