Cagers Gear Up For Big Penn-Princeton Weekend

For the Harvard women's basketball team, these are the glory days.

The Boss--Coach Kathy Delaney Smith--who took a wrong turn with last year's 8-18 squad and just kept goin', has transformed the cagers into legitimate Ivy title contenders.

At 8-4 (2-1 Ivy), the Crimson is off to its best start since 1976-77, having won four of its last five games, including a victory over favored Dartmouth last Saturday. Riding a wave of confidence rarely seen before in the Crimson women's hoops program, the cagers are hungry to move into first place with a pair of wins this weekend.

"We're all very excited," Coach Kathy Delaney Smith said. "We should be able to win both games."

Win both games and the cagers move into first place in the Ivy standings--and reach the 10 victory mark for the first time in six years.

But you better watch out--Penn and Princeton are comin' to town.

Bad Memories

The Quakers and Tigers made life miserable for the hoopsters last year, defeating them four times in four tries. Harvard has won only eight of its 29 meetings with the two schools.

With exams coming up, Delaney Smith hopes there is no let-down, especially after the team's emotional win over Dartmouth. Both Penn, with its fast-break and perimeter offense, and Princeton, with its strong inside game, will pose serious challenges to the surging cagers.

Penn comes into tonight's game atop the Ivies (1-0) despite having the worst overall record (1-8). Delaney Smith expects to see the Quakers play a very scrappy game, relying on outside shooting to compensate for their weak inside game.

All-Ivy guard June Stambaugh leads the Penn shooting attack, scoring a healthy 14.9 points per game. Junior forward Mickey Finnegan (8.9 points per game) and freshman guard Cheryl Rath (8 ppg) will also provide needed support.

The Quakers, who are in a tailspin since beating Cornell early in the season, have lost seven straight including a heart-breaking one-point loss to Fairleigh Dickenson University in which Penn shot 55 percent from the field.

Tail Tigers

Unlike Penn, Princeton (3-7, 0-1 Ivy) will be crashing the boards and trying to get scoring from its strong frontline. Touting two 6-ft., 3-in. centers and three 6-ft. forwards, the Tigers will be pushing the ball inside, especially to center Lisa Greenberg and forward Jennifer Donnelly.

Donnelly is coming off a tremendous performance (20 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists) which paced Princeton to a 97-49 crushing of Long Island University.

If Harvard tightens up the middle, Princeton is likely to counter with the outside shooting of Donnelly and Forward Lois Hatzenbeller. When the lane is clogged, the two Tigers will probably pop out to the corners for some quick jumpers.