Women Cagers Beat Columbia, 78-51, Beginning to Fulfill High Expectations

It could be. It might be. It is!

Announcer Harry Caray uses these eight simple words to describe how the potential of along fly ball is realized on a home run, and to a certain extent, these words can also apply to the recent play of the Harvard women's basketball team: after easily handling Cornell Friday night and then trouncing Columbia Saturday night, 78-51, the team is starting to play up to its potential for the first time all season.

Laden with individual talent, backed by a proud winning tradition and a proven coach, the Crimson has shown flashes of brilliance throughout the year. It has held many convincing leads and made many spectacular plays. But like the ball to the warning track, Harvard Just had not gotten the job done; its 0-5 Ivy League start was its worst ever.

Yet after the Crimson's weekend wines, the team seems intent on continuing its short winning streak, and proving to the rest of the Ivy League that it is capable of beating anyone.

"Up until now, we've usually beaten ourselves," Coach Kathy Delaney Smith said. "But now, we feel we can beat every team that we're going to play."

Harvard (5-14,2-5) was in control throughout the game against Columbia (4-16, 2-6). Paced by Frey (who scored all of her 10 points in the first half) and junior center Tammy Butler (who had 14 points and 11 rebounds in the first half on her way to 22 and 15, respectively), the Crimson wasted no time in establishing a commanding lead.

The Lions did not get closer than 10 after the nine-minute mark of the first half, and Harvard scored the last 12 points of the half to take a 44-21 lead going into the locker room. Freshman guard Jessica Gelman scored six of those 12 points, and five of the six baskets during the run were lay-ups.

In the first half, Harvard outrebounded Columbia 27 to nine, out-shot Columbia 55.3 percent (21-38) to 32.1 percent (9-28), and generally decided the game soon after the opening tip.

The Crimson stretched the lead in the second half, mounting a balanced attack that relied on the defense and penetration of Frey, Gelman, and sophomore guard Elizabeth "Buzz" Proudfit, and the stellar inside play of Butler. All four scored in double figures, and sophomore guard Amy Reinhard and senior forward Catherine Crisera both chipped in eight points.

At times the contest resembled a Harvard Lay-up drill more than an official Ivy League game, but in all fairness, it must be pointed out that Columbia was coming off of a Friday night road game to Dartmouth and only played seven players.

This hardly diminishes the result, however: no matter what the circumstances, it takes a good team to beat another team by 27 points, and Harvard finally played like a good team.

One noticeable facet of the Crimson's gameplan was Delaney Smith's decision to call off Harvard's full court press for much of the game,. something she also did against Cornell. The press, installed at the start of the season, has been ineffective, and although Delaney Smith would not rule it out in the future, she indicated that she would be more conservative for the rest of the year.

"Cornell and Columbia prefer transition basketball, so we didn't press and play to their strength," she said. "How much we use the press now will depend on our opponents. We might have used it too much earlier in the year. We just don't have much experience (there are only three seniors on the squad), and you have to allow young players to mature as decision-makers."

"Our half-court defense has improved since we stopped pressing so much," added Frey.

Butler's strong effort raised her league-leading scoring average to 18.1 per game and her league-leading rebounding average to 13.3 per game. She will need to maintain those dominating numbers when Harvard plays Ivy co-leader Princeton on Friday night, a team that the Crimson played close earlier this season.

And although its five league losses probably takes it out of title contention (the three league leaders have one loss each), the Crimson can start playing the role of spoiler. And although beating the best (versus being the best) may not be comparable to a Reggie Jacksonesque World Series home rum, it is still a blast.