Brown No More?

Tammy Butler would like to know how it feels to beat Brown.

In her seven games against the Bears, Butler has not beaten Brown. Not even once. If You're a Harvard player, that fact is a little bit upsetting.

"No one on this team has beaten Brown," Tammy Butler said. "That gives us incentive enough to go out and crush them."

In fact, Harvard has not defeated Brown since the 1990-1991 season. At that point, Butler was a prospective student and not Harvard's all time leading scorer.

No one on the team, indeed!

In tonight's 6 p.m. game at Briggs Cage, Butler will have one last opportunity to bury the Bears. Since the 1974-75 season, Brown has defeated Harvard 23 times, but Harvard has returned the favor only 15 times.

Unfortunately, one must remember the Crimson's February 10 loss to the Bears at the Pizzitola Sports Center. Both teams played each other to an even 39 points in the first half. With eight minutes remaining, both teams were tied 49-49.

As the old adage goes, however, once the monkey is on your back, it's pretty hard to get it off. Brown ripped off a 16-8 run to end the game and capture the 65-57 win.

Harvard should claim sole responsibility for its undoing; the Crimson shot itself in the foot with 27 percent shooting from the floor in the second half.

Harvard will need to make sure similarly ugly numbers do not appear on the box score tonight.

Harvard did what it had to do to win last night, but it didn't do anything more. The Crimson was outrebounded by a substantial margin, 48 to 34. Furthermore, Yale grabbed 28 offensive boards while Harvard had only 27 defensive boards.

And while Yale plays very aggressively--even verging on dirty--it is not a good thing to get outrebounded at your own defensive end.

Rebounding may be a problem again tonight. The Bears have their own version of the twin towers: 6'5" center Martina Jerant and 6'0" forward Kjersten (KJ) Boschen.

The moral of the story? The Crimson absolutely needs to hit the boards with abandon tonight. Allison Feaster, Katy Davis and Butler need to be active right from the get-go.

Brown poured more fuel on the fire itself last night by making the Ivy League race even more wide open. The Bears knocked off league-leading Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H. With the loss, the Big Green and the Crimson sit together at the top of the Ivy League, while Brown lags only one game behind.

The good news is that Harvard seems incredibly determined to slay the Bears.

"I think we are ready for this game," Butler said. "Brown helped us out tonight by beating Dartmouth. They're coming into this gym strong. They think they have a shot at the Ivy League title now. We just want to end all hopes of theirs tomorrow."

Brown has opened a door for a fourth consecutive Ivy League title.

It will be the Crimson's responsibility to slam it back in the Bears' face.