One Great Season For W. Cagers

For those of you who were on Mars for the past couple of days, the Harvard women's basketball team closed out its season with a 72-48 loss to Dartmouth on Tuesday night.

So the Big Green will fly off to some yet-to-be-determined locale for the first round of the NCAA Tournament, while the Crimson will think of something to do during spring break.

But the finality with which the year ended should not take away from the season's accomplishments. Harvard (19-7 overall, 11-3 Ivy) not only had its best season in seven years, but it also did so coming off a 7-19 record in 1993-94. Clearly, this was a substantial improvement.

"I think that we set a pretty lofty goal to win the Ivies," sophomore guard Jessica Gelman said. "We have the talent and the capability to win, and we were all really sad that we didn't. But [still], it was really a great year."

A big reason for the turnaround was a freshman power forward from South Carolina named Allison Feaster. She led the Ivy League in overall rebounding (11.2 boards per game) and was third in scoring (17.0 points per game).

In addition, Feaster was second in steals, third in field goal percentage, second in free throw percentage and made one-third of her three-point attempts. Any attempt to underestimate the value of her contribution would be laughable.

However, the real heart and soul of the team was captain Tammy Butler. She was the only senior on the team, but Butler's departure from the program will be sorely missed.

It would require microscopic text to list all of Butler's records and placings on Harvard's all-time lists, so here's a quick summary: Butler leads Harvard in career scoring (1591 points) and rebounds (1045) and topped the Ivies with 17.6 points per game. She was also the Ivy League Player of the Week three times during the season and has a good chance to be named Player of the Year; Feaster has all but locked up the Rookie of the Year.

"We'll get [the title] next year, but I wanted it this year for Tammy Butler," Harvard coach Kathy Delaney Smith said. "She's a very special student-athlete--one of the best Harvard's seen, male or female, as far as everything she contributes to the school."

Harvard began the campaign with a quick start. The Crimson humiliated Army, 109-56, in only the second game of the season. Butler netted 24 in the contest.

Then, in the fifth game of the year, the Crimson pulled out a 100-99 squeaker over Providence, a milestone win for the team.

"Early on, the Providence win really stands out," Butler said. "Five of our players had scored in double digits--we knew what we could do then."

The beat went on. Harvard equalled its win total of last season before winter break (with a 75-60 win over Delaware) and was 10-3 when the Crimson was faced with its biggest league game of the year.

That meeting was at Dartmouth, who would turn into Harvard's nemesis. The good news for the Crimson up in Hanover was that Butler broke Harvard's all-time scoring record with a free throw in the second half. But after that, it was all Dartmouth, thanks to a 17-4 Big Green run from which the Crimson never recovered as Harvard lost, 81-77.

After dropping its next game to UNH, Harvard went on a tear, winning nine of its next 10. Included in there are two wins over Columbia (which has never beaten Harvard), an overtime thriller at Cornell that turned into a 105-99 Crimson win and a 91-66 whipping of Brown--last year's champ.

But then, of course, came the second meeting with Dartmouth.

The fan turnout was a big plus, as 2,231 spectators packed Briggs Cage in what had to be some sort of Harvard record, even if most went home in sadness.

"I thought that the support was outstanding," Delaney Smith said. "It was a wonderful display of school spirit--I would like to say thank you."

The fact remains, though, that 23,000 fans would not have given Harvard the Ivy League title. Sure, the championship isn't everything, but a loss is a loss, and losing hurts.

Nevertheless, it cannot be forgotten that the Crimson flip-flopped its wins and losses from last year, from 7-19 to 19-7. That's making some pretty steady headway.

"In the locker room after the [Dartmouth] game," Gelman said, "I was crying and said to [Butler], 'You're going out of here with nothing,' meaning no title.

"Tammy said to me, 'Jessica, if you think I'm leaving here with nothing, you're wrong."'

That's a pretty good way to put Harvard's season. True, there was no title, but there still was a lot.