W. Hoops to Host Harvard Invitational

The Harvard women's basketball team will put its undefeated record on the line today and tomorrow as it hosts the annual Harvard Invitational Tournament.

The Crimson (2-0 overall, 0-0 Ivy), coming off a 109-56 crushing of Army Tuesday night, will host Boston College (1-1) this afternoon at 2:30 in Briggs Cage.

Harvard's game will follow another first-round contest between Fordham (2-1) and LaSalle (1-0), scheduled for noon. The winners will face off in the championship tomorrow at 2:30, following a consolation game.

"[The tournament] is really anybody's ballgame," Harvard coach Kathy Delaney Smith said. "There is no underdog."

The Harvard-B.C. game should be an interesting one, as the teams compare very well with each other.

"They're very similar to us," Delaney Smith said. "B.C. is young, very athletic and well-coached."

B.C., who competes in the Big East Conference, did not face Harvard last year.

"They have a lot of quick players," junior guard Elizabeth Proudfit said. "They like to drive. We have to use our inside game to contain them."

Junior forward Elizabeth Gettelman said it is more difficult to prepare for games early in the season.

"Once you get into the Ivy League games, you know the teams' ins and outs," Gettelman said. But in the these early contests, "you can't form a game plan according to them. We're focusing on our game."

The Crimson faced neither of the other participating teams last season. LaSalle recently moved into the Midwestern Athletic Conference, while Fordham is the defending champion from the Patriot League.

The Crimson reached the finals in this tournament last year with a 72-62 victory over Colgate in the first round. However, the team fell to Tulane, 93-71, in the championship game the following day.

"We haven't won the tournament in a long time." Delaney Smith said. "It's our tournament, and it's our turn!"

So far, there is no comparison between last year's squad and the 1994-95 team. Last year, the women opened with a 100-63 loss to William & Mary and then lost a tough, 67-58, overtime contest to Army.

The Crimson avenged those losses this past week with a 77-71 win over William & Mary one week ago and Tuesday's victory over Army, which saw Harvard set a record for most points scored in a single game at 109.

"We are not the same team as last year," Delaney Smith said. "We are much deeper, more athletic, and there is a lot of team chemistry."

Delaney Smith attributes much of the team's successes so far to the six freshmen on the roster.

"They went on the floor in the last seven minutes [of the Army game] and they just dominated," she said.

"The freshman have contributed a lot of depth," senior captain Tammy Butler said.

"It has been a total team effort. Look across the boards at the stats and you see three, four or five people in double digits."

Following competition this weekend, the squad will prepare for a meeting at Providence Wednesday. The Friars, members of the Big East Conference as well, were also not on the Crimson's schedule last season.

Then the team will travel to Fairfield, Conn. to participate in the Warner's Classic next weekend. Harvard will face another local school, Boston University, in the first round of that two-day tournament.

The Crimson defeated B.U., 83-67, last year. Butler--the nation's fifth-leading rebounder last season--led the charge against the Terriers, scoring a team-high 17 points and pulling down 11 boards. She contributed to the team's second-highest point total of the season.

Ivy League competition opens in January when the Crimson will visit Penn and Princeton, Jan. 7-8.