Women Cagers Bomb Brown; Dartmouth Showdown Next

Sophomore point guard Barbarann Keffer scored a game-high 22 points as the Harvard women's basketball team completed its second consecutive weekend sweep with an easy, 67-54, triumph over Brown before 150 fans at Briggs Athletic Center Saturday night.

The Broomall, Penn. native went over the 20-point mark in scoring for the second time in three games, going 9-for-14 from the field and 4-for-4 from the line while also leading Harvard in assists (eight), rebounds (six), and steals (four).

The victory--which followed up Friday night's 76-68 triumph over Yale--was the hoopsters' fifth straight in Ivy League play, and improves their conference record to 6-1 (12-5 overall) on the season.

With the victory, the Crimson--who swept Penn and Princeton just prior to the exam break--nabbed back-to-back Ivy weekend sweeps for the first time ever.

"Confidence and consistency have been the keys to our success this year," Keffer said.

Dartmouth (6-1 Ivy, 10-8 overall) kept pace with Harvard over the weekend by also knocking off both the Elis and the Bruins. The Crimson will travel to Hanover, N.H., tomorrow night for a big showdown between the only two legitimate contenders remaining in the Ancient Eight.

Harvard defeated the Big Green in a 66-63 thriller the first time the teams met, back on January 4 at Briggs.

But aside from Keffer's outstanding all-around performance, it was once again a complete team effort which enabled the Crimson to sweep defending Ivy champion Brown in the season series for the first time since 1978-79. (The cagers topped the Bruins, 71-66, on November 30 in Providence.)

Each of the 10 hoopsters who saw playing time scored Saturday night. Anna Collins complemented Keffer's fine performance with 11 points and six rebounds and four other cagers added six points apiece.

"Our strategy was to run them, and it worked," said Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney Smith. "Brown was definitely tired from last night's game [which the Bruins loss to Dartmouth, 67-65]."

The Crimson led start to finish for the second straight night, jumping in front 6-0 when Beth Chandler nailed an eight-ft. jumper three minutes into the contest. A very sloppy Bruins team didn't get on the scoreboard until 4:56 had elapsed from the first half, when Denise Liebe broke the scoring drought with a short bank-shot.

After the Bruins executed a successful back-door play to All-Ivy first team forward Michelle Smith (16 points, eight rebounds) midway through the first half to bring Brown within a single point, Keffer connected on a 10-ft. jumper and the Bruins never got any closer than three points the rest of the way.

Harvard--owner of a 32-24 halftime lead--was ignited by Co-Captain Trisha Brown at the start of the second half, as the junior guard fed Keffer a beautiful shovel pass resulting in an easy lay-up and then connected on 12-ft. jumpers on three consecutive Crimson trips down the floor.

"We knew that they were only five or six players deep so we wanted to run the ball a lot," Brown said.

Co-Captain Anne Kelly (six points) took over from there, first hitting from the top of the key and then finishing off one of several Crimson fast break layups on successive possessions. Those two baskets started the hoopsters on a run of ten unanswered points, culminating with an eight-ft. jump shot by Keffer which gave Harvard its biggest lead of the evening, 56-36.

The Crimson closed out its scoring with a perfectly-executed back-door play, as Keffer fed sophomore guard Mary Baldauf a beautiful pass in the lane for an easy two points. Keffer now leads the Ivies in assists with 32.

A swarming Harvard defense--which ranked first in the Ivies going into the weekend--held

Harvard, 67-54 at Briggs Athletic Center

Brown (54): Kerry Kelley 0-0--0; Marjoric Bonnet 2-0--4; Christa Champion 4-0--8; Krista Butterfield 6-0--12; Michelle Smith 8-0--16; Janice Huwe 0-0--0; Carol Kozar 5-1--11; Denise Liebe 1-1--3. Total: 26-2--54.

HARVARD (68): Trisha Brown 3-0--6; Beth Chandler 1-4--6; Anna Collins 5-1--11; Sharon Hayes 3-0--6; Barbarann Keffer 9-4--22; Hanya Bluestone 1-0--2; Nancy Cibotti 1-0--2; Anne Kelly 3-0--6; Sarah Duncan 2-0--4; Mary Baldauf 1-0--2. Total: 29-9--67.

Fouled out: Butterfield. Total fouls: Brown 16, Harvard 13. Rebounds; Brown 34 (Smith 8), Harvard 38 (Collins, Keffer, Duncan 6). Assists: Brown 14 (Kelley 8), Harvard 15 (Keffer 8). Brown  24-30--54 Harvard  32-35--67

A:150 Brown to 29 percent first-half field goalshooting (the Bruins averaged 45 percent comingin). That defense also held second team All-Ivyguard Kerry Kelley to zero points in 34minutes of playing time.

Meanwhile, a rapidly improving Crimson offense,coming off a season-high 63 percent performanceagainst Yale on Friday, shot a sizzling 64 percentfrom the floor in the second half.

Sarah Duncan (four points, six rebounds), thefreshman forward from Chicago, continued herassault on the Ivy League blocked shotssingle-season record, swatting away three morelast night to increase her league-leading total to16