A B-Ball Rut Gets Deeper and Deeper

Sometimes it's hard to climb out of a rut.

Coming off a strong Sunday performance against Hofstra--their first win of the season--the women's basketball team struggled haltingly to a 62-57 loss to Springfield College last night.

Despite season-best scoring performances from Crimson forwards, the teams couldn't muster the offensive coherence to overrun the intimidating Springfield defense.

"Springfield played the full court press pretty much all the way through," said Coach Kathy Delaney Smith. "Our main problem was the lack of offensive confidence."

Close Contact

But that's not to say that Springfield ran away with the game. The Crimson kept in close contact on the scoreboard, rarely slipping behind by more than two baskets. And it managed, as it has all season, to keep up the exhausting man-to-man defense.

Strong personal performances revealed that Harvard is improving, slowly but surely. Sophomore forward Anna Collins notched a career-high 20 points, 'which was only the most spectacular stat produced by her all-around superb play. Last year Collins averaged 4.2 points a game.

Junior Wendy Joseph added 13 points to the Crimson tally, and freshman guard Anne Geiger sparked the offense with superb ball handling and passing.

Pediatrics

The Crimson is still hampered by its youth--more than half the players are freshmen. The team is showing telltale signs of the kind of teamwork that could turn their frustrating season around, but the fact is, they just haven't played together enough.

"We lack experience," Delaney Smith said. "But we are continually improving. We kept it close tonight and we'll keep getting better."

With more performance like Collins's, Geiger's, and a strong dose of that offensive confidence, the Crimson can probably prove Delaney Smith right.

THE NOTEBOOK: This brings the Crimson record to 1-7...It marks their third loss by less than 10 points... On Saturday, Northeastern travels across the Charles to meet Harvard at Briggs Athletic Center, in the second home game of the season.