Women Cagers Crush LIU, Advance in Tourney

The Harvard women's basketball team, seeking its third Harvard Women's Invitational Basketball Tournament championship in the last four years, trounced Long Island University, 86-67, before 150 at Briggs Athletic Center in last night's first-round matchup.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Crimson (4-2 overall, 1-1 Ivy) and slated the squad to face Lehigh College--who had earlier knocked off Texas Christian University, 72-70--in tonight's final.

The cagers were again plagued by poor field goal shooting, however, converting only 34 of 89 attempts (38 percent).

But unlike Boston College, which burned the Crimson Tuesday night by shooting a blistering 73 percent from the floor, last night's opponents managed only 33 percent.

Sophomore forward Sharon Hayes, who scored 15 first-half points and finished the contest with 19, was the leading scorer for Harvard. Hayes went 8-for-13 from the floor, pulled down four rebounds and made four steals.

Freshman center Sarah Duncan, playing her best game of the season, was extremely effective against a rather small LIU line-up. In all, she scored 11 points, had 14 rebounds and blocked five shots--including three within a two-minute span.

The Crimson out-rebounded the Blackbirds by an incredible 62-33 margin, but also committed nine more turnovers (31 total).

"We ran the floor well but we really have to clean up our game in a hurry if we want to beat Lehigh," Coach Kathy Delaney Smith said afterwards. "I was very displeased with our defense [for the first time this season], and we're certainly not going to win a lot of games with shooting like this."

The 19-point margin of victory and the 84-point offensive performance were the Crimson's largest since last February's 85-66 defeat of Tufts.

Harvard built up an early 10-point advantage as Hayes scored 13 of the squad's first 21 points. The cagers extended their lead to 49-33 by the half, and the closest LIU ever got after that was 11.

The Crimson did much of its scoring in spurts, reeling off eleven unanswered points midway through the first half and going on a 20-6 spree midway through the second.

Balanced Attack

As has been the case so often this year, it was once again a balanced attack which paved the way for Harvard's victory. All 13 players saw action, with 11 of them contributing to the scoring.

Co-Captain Anna Collins and sophomores Beth Chandler and Barbarann Keffer each scored eight points for the Crimson, while LIU was led by junior guard Evette Sandifer (17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 3 steals).

THE NOTEBOOK: Tonight's final will be held at 8 p.m., with the consolation game at 5:30 p.m.... TCU's Carol Glover turned in the performance of the evening in a losing cause against Lehigh: 20 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals...The Crimson won the fifth annual tourney in 1982 with a 56-54 victory over William & Mary and captured the crown again last year by knocking off Brooklyn, 76-74, in overtime...Harvard was also 4-2 after its first six contests last year--but then went on to lose 16 of its last 20 games.