Brown Breaks Cliffe in MIT Tourney

Fatigued after a narrow victory over hard-pressing MIT Friday night, a scrappy Radcliffe squad was stomped by the methodical Brown scoring machine in their bid for the first MIT Women's Invitational trophy Saturday night, 67-37.

In the toughest game of the tournament, the Cliffe cagers managed to play even with Brown for only 14 minutes. By the half, Brown had spurted to a 14-point lead.

Cliffe captain Jeannie Guyton explained. "We were definitely having problems with that defense. We were moving well at the start of the game, but by the end of the first half, we started losing our moves."

Though the Cliffe cagers managed to break a bothersome Brown press, the effort fatigued them into massive foul trouble. With five minutes to go before the half, Maude Wood had four fouls while two of her teammates had three.

The flat and foul-ridden Cliffe five was plagued by two Brown superstars who dominated the court and the basket. Shooting on the run, they out-hustled the Cliffe defense with quick shots, sinking 46 shots between them.

Sprained Muscles

The Cliffe, though taller than the Brown squad, suffered several liabilities which increased the odds against them. The absence of two valuable players robbed them of squad depth vital in face of trouble with fouls. Though the squad had had some good practices during the previous week, they had not played a regular game since the middle of December. The Cliffe's Kathy Fulton was slowed by sprained leg muscles throughout Saturday night's game.

Fulton explained. "We were all ready for the game, we were all pretty psyched. But we just weren't moving. Nothing broke for us." Guyton agreed saying. "We were missing the vital spark--whatever that is."

Whatever that was, however, Guyton had it. After scoring 9 points Friday and 10 Saturday, she was the only Cliffe player to make the all-tournament team. Said Radcliffe coach John McCarthy," Jeannie was super. She just outhustled everyone under the boards for two games straight. She played the best two games I've seen her play yet."

McCarthy explained that he thought his team had played well against a tough Brown squad.

The Cliffe will have a chance to avenge their defeat at Brown next week. McCarthy explained that the team wants "to go into it with a business-like attitude, realizing that we're up against a very good team."

As for Saturday night, McCarthy concludes. "It just wasn't in the cards for us." Hopefully, coach McCarthy has an ace up his sleeve.