Women Cagers Haunt Rice Owls, 75-74

The Harvard women's basketball team went bargain-hunting last night. And when the register stopped ringing just before 10 p.m. at Briggs Athletic Center, the cagers had cashed in on two big items.

The Crimson came away with a thrilling 75-74 victory over a talented Rice squad (2-1) in the opening round of the seventh annual Harvard Women's Basketball Invitational. Tri-Captain Barb Keffer sank two clutch free throws with six seconds left in regulation to keep the host's record unblemished at 4-0.

The victory was an appropriate gift for Keffer's counterpart, Tri-Captain Sharon Hayes (16 points, two rebounds and three steals on the night), who was presented the game ball after becoming only the second player in Harvard women's basketball history to break the 1000 point mark.

Hayes hit the 1000-point barrier when she sank the front end of a one-and-one just three minutes and 35 seconds into the first half.

The Lexington native is almost certain to break the Harvard school record of 1033 points--held by Elaine Holpuch '83--before the cagers' Ivy slate starts up on January 9.

"I set my personal goals at the beginning of the season," said Hayes, in reference to her efforts to break both the 1000-point mark and Holpuch's record. "It was great to achieve that milestone, but I'm happy to get it out of the way so I can start concentrating more on our team goal--the Ivy Championship."

The Crimson set the tone in the opening minutes of the contest, shooting out to an 8-2 lead with just three minutes gone in the game.

But Rice fired back with some power of its own, namely a hounding Owl defense and the spinning moves of senior center Edith Adams, who led the visitors' inside game with 18 points, 16 rebounds, three blocks and four assists.

"Adams and [Rice junior forward Amelia] Cooper make up the toughest frontcourt that we'll face all year," noted Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney Smith. "Beth Chandler had a great night on the boards and everybody contributed to the inside defense."

Both squads battled evenly throughout the rest of the first stanza, with the Owls taking a 43-41 into the locker room.

"At halftime, coach told us to just keep running," Hayes said, noting that Smith likes to utilize the squad's overall speed and running game to wear down opponents in the latter stages of games. "As long as we could keep it up and collapse on their big people inside, we knew we would be all right."

Harvard came out fired up in the second half and took its biggest lead of the game, 54-46, with 12:59 left in the game.

But the Owls slowly whittled the Crimson advantage down to nothing, and took a one-point lead with just three minutes remaining on a turnaround jumper by Cooper, who had seven points and an important nine rebounds on the evening.

The game came down to the clutch play of Keffer, who drove to the hoop on Owl freshman Charity Shira and drew a foul, earning her two shots at the charity stripe.

After Rice Coach Linda Tucker called a timeout in an attempt to ice Keffer, the scrappy guard stepped up to the line and sank both shots, sending the crowd of 100 to their feet and the Crimson to its fourth consecutive victory.

"It was a great team effort," Smith said. "The seniors have a lot of pride and experience. Their hard work is paying off."