'Cliffe Hoopsters Thump MIT, 57-25, As Team Effort Overcomes Elements

Contending with a decrepit portable floor and a frigid temperature as well as the MIT basketball team, the Radcliffe basketball squad posted an easy 57-25 win over an outclassed MIT team, advancing its record to 5-1.

It was lucky for the Crimson the MIT team was inept, for the floor of the MIT field house, scattered with many dead spots, caused numerous ball-handling turnovers that a more talented team could have used to its advantage.

Despite the presence of mammoth MIT center Diane Ozelius, her team's leading scorer, the Crimson overwhelmingly outrebounded the Engineers at both ends of the court and outshot them by a large margin.

Tough Zone

In the first half the Crimson used a tough zone defense and held MIT to only 12 points, frequently preventing the Techies from taking shots altogether. Offensively, however, Radcliffe had some trouble penetrating the MIT zone. But strong offensive rebounding by Caryn Curry and Beth Craig provided second and third shots for the long-shooting guards.

Radcliffe's best offensive weapon, however, was the fast-break. Ellen Hart, the game's leading scorer with 16 points, was just too fast for the Engineers. She repeatedly raced past numerous defenders to score an uncontested lay-up.

The second half was a team effort. Coach Carol Kleinfelder shuffled the bench, perhaps to keep her charges from contracting pneumonia from the freezing drafts that blew through the fieldhouse.

Game on Ice

Radcliffe outscored its hepless opponents 19-3 in the first eight minutes of the half, putting the game on ice figuratively as well as literally. Hart led the blitz with six straight points, aided by Curry and Sue Williams who combined for eight straight points.

From there the Crimson could do no wrong. Twenty-footers went in with an that Coach Kleinfelder will miss, and loose balls invariably ended up in Crimson hands. The final minutes of the game were simply fast-break practice.

There was one disappointment in the second half--center Sue Hewitt turned her ankle halfway through the second half and will probably be lost for this weekend's tournament at Worcester Tech.