The Last Brown Win

(Originally ran Monday, February 25, 1991). After being stunned in overtime in Providence, R.I., two weeks ago, the Brown's women's basketball team was looking for a little payback Saturday night at the Briggs Cage. But Harvard had two things in mind.

First, the Crimson (16-7 overall, 11-0 Ivy) had the home-court advantage.

Second, and more importantly, was the fact that Saturday night was senior's night, the last home game for Harvard's four seniors.

In keeping with tradition, Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney Smith started her four seniors: Co-Captain Beth Wambach, forward Jen Mazenec, and point guard Heidi Kosh--all of whom have been starting all season--and co-captain Dina Hadrick.

Hadrick got the starting nod for the first time this year and she responded with a 15 point, four-steal effort that sparked the Crimson to a 76-65 victory that improved Harvard's record to 11-0 in the conference.

With the win, Harvard eliminated Brown from the Ivy race and clinched a tie with Princeton (8-3 Ivy) for the Ivy crown. Pennsylvania (7-4 Ivy) was also eliminated from the race when it lost to Columbia, 67-61, Saturday night.

Harvard and Brown exchanged baskets through the early part of the first half. Hadrick pulled out the first of several spectacular shots at the 16:35 mark, sinking a scoop-to-the-hoop and nailing the subsequent free throw to give Harvard a 7-6 lead.

The Crimson grabbed a five-point advantage when sophomore Erin Maher hit the first of her three three-pointers of the night midway through the first frame, but Brown stormed back to grab a 40-35 lead at halftime.

Harvard took the momentum right back at the start of the second half, scoring the first six points of the half and forcing Brown to call time-out. At the 14:00 mark Hadrick struck again, sinking a dipsy-do behind-the-backboard layup for a 51-46 lead. Harvard pulled ahead by seven, 55-48, at the 12:30 mark when Kosh stole the ball and hit two free throws, but with 5:39 remaining the Harvard lead was down to two, 62-60.

At that point Harvard's experience and pride took over. Hadrick came up with two clutch offensive rebounds and two free throws down the stretch and sophomore center Debbie Flandermeyer turned in another monstrous performance, finishing with game highs of 22 points, 15 rebounds, and five blocks. Flandermeyer received Ivy League Player of the Week honors for the second time this season for her 35 point, 23 rebound weekend.

"[Kathy] told me to look for my shot in the first half," Flandermeyer said. "At halftime, I just spent some time alone and thought about putting the ball in the hoop and going up strong."

When Kosh threw the ball in the air as the buzzer sounded, you knew that this victory was particularly sweet. But for the seniors the victory was tinted with the sadness of knowing that they will never play in Briggs Cage again.

"Right now, I'm just euphoric from the victory," Mazenec said. "I just don't think about [the end]. It couldn't have ended in a better way."

Well, it isn't quite over yet.

"The Ivy League title is the most important thing right now," Hadrick said. "The team wants it really badly."

This was Harvard's last win over Brown until this past Saturday, a span of seven games over four years. The Crimson clinched the Ivy League title the next day when Princeton lost to Penn. This was the squad's last Ivy crown.