Can You Say Rebounding?

When Pat Riley was coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, he presented his team with an ultimatum:

No rebounds, no rings.

Perhaps the Harvard women's basketball team should take heed of Riley's advice.

Saturday night's victory over Massachusetts marked the third time this season that Harvard was out-rebounded by a much smaller team. With hustle and scrap, the Minutewomen garnered 39 boards to the Crimson's 32.

The Crimson did manage to come away with the win, but Harvard has experienced similar rebounding woes in earlier losses to Hartford and Fordham.

"It's hard to believe, with our height, that we get out-rebounded." Delaney Smith said. "But it's not unusual for this to happen to tall teams."

The Crimson boasts four six-footers on the squad: freshman Tammy Butler, sophomores Catherine Crisera and Kimberly Seidel, and junior Debbie Flandermeyer.

UMass has only one six-footer on its roster, junior forward Jenny Moran. From there the size of the team dips considerably.

According to Delaney Smith, shorter teams concentrate more on rebounding because they must work harder and box-out better to win the boards. Taller teams, however, tend to approach this aspect of the game with a more relaxed attitude--perhaps an overly relaxed attitude.

Butler performed well from her forward position, ending the game with seven boards, but the 6'3" Flandermeyer snagged only three.

Although Co-Captain Heather Harris returned to the line-up on Saturday, she has not fully recovered from an anterior cruciate knee injury. Normally a strong rebounder, Harris found trouble jumping and tallied only two boards.

The Crimson's top rebounder was 5'8" junior Erin Maher, who grabbed nine boards. She's a shooting guard. Go figure.

So now Delaney Smith is demanding more intensity from her team.

"[The lack of rebounds] is a maddening occurrence for me. It'll be the death of me and this team," Delaney Smith said.