Harvard's Three Assistant Coaches Add Veteran's Touch

In the face of what may be one of the biggest games in Harvard basketball history, the Harvard women's basketball team certainly isn't going in empty-handed.

Led by a corps of assistant coaches that hail from as far away as southern California and as close to home as Norwood, Mass, the Crimson cagers draw from a wealth of basketball experience.

Assistant coaches Trisha Brown '87, Stefanie Pemper and Sue Stuebner comprise the trio that will lead their athletes, under the supervision of Head Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith, to the NCAA Tournament, where they will face-off against Stanford University on Saturday.

When asked about the strengths of the first-seeded Cardinal, the coaches expressed reserved appreciation.

"Stanford's inside players are their strength," remarked Brown, the Massachusetts native. "We need to do a good job of collapsing in and control the perimeter game."

Backcourt coach Stefanie Pemper, quite an athlete in her own right at Idaho State, acknowledged Stanford's athletic ability on the whole."

"Stanford runs the floor really well as a team," Pemper said. "They're all good athletes, and are excellently conditioned. We definitely need to do a good job in the transition game."

The players, however, have entered this week's practice unfazed by the frenzy of attention and are continuing to work out at a feverish pace, capping off practice with the usual sprint work.

"We've been working the girls really hard, and they have responded admirably," Brown said.

"They have been very motivated this week," Pemper added. "I think the idea of being the sixteenth seed facing the first has excited them--that and being on live TV nationally. They like the idea of having people at [The Crimson Sports] Grille watching them on the screen Saturday night."

Amidst what could have been a chaotic week for the Crimson, Brown noted that their roles as assistant coaches have not changed "too much."

But that doesn't mean the coaches aren't as excited as the players.

Stuebner, a Minnesota native and a Dartmouth graduate studying at the Harvard School of Education, will be at her first Tournament game, as a player or as a coach. Stuebner played four seasons at Dartmouth College, including the Big Green's 1990 Ivy championship year, before there was an automatic bid for the Ivy League champs.

"I'd say this is the biggest thing I've been a part of," Stuebner said. "I've never been to the tournament. I went down to see the University of Connecticut play Old Dominion this year, and I think it'll be a lot more exciting to be on the floor as a coach than watching it from the stands."

Brown, a veteran of two Tournaments as a Harvard assistant, had a somewhat different perspective. Brown and Pemper are a great deal more familiar with the NCAA showdown.

"All three of the Tournament games are pretty similar," Brown said. "Still the atmosphere of the games and the chance to prove ourselves are what we're looking forward to."

Harvard's hopes Saturday's game will provide that proof. A team that was peaking until a regular season-ending loss to Dartmouth last week will be looking to rebound and regain its top form.

"I thought we were [peaking]," Brown said. "Now we want to get back to where we were before Dartmouth."

"The Dartmouth loss was a reality check for us," Pemper said. "We were really starting to peak with the wins against Yale and Brown, and going back to Penn and Princeton. We're going to try to raise our level of play like we always do in the tourney; the players like the underdog role."

Looking back, the season appeared to have several signposts along the way, all pointing to a Crimson tournament bid. The coaching trio was divided as to the season's biggest turning points.

"The win over Princeton here was a big game this season," Brown said. "I enjoyed watching our girls respond after losing down there."

"I look back to the first 10 minutes of the Penn game," Stuebner mentioned, referring to Harvard's 42-point feeding frenzy to open its game in Philadelphia. "That was just an awesome offensive display."

"I think the game down at South Carolina was a big one," Pemper said. "We really got a taste of our capability against strong competition. We just fell short of what, for a lot of the girls, was a dream. Another big moment was beating Loyola to win our tournament.

"We hadn't won our tournament in a long time," Brown added.

While Harvard's tournament came to a close months ago, another looms large, and the student body is beginning to take notice.

"We have a small student population that has been extremely supportive," Stuebner remarked. "I'd like to thank those kids that have been with us the whole way. We've even been getting phone calls at the office from people who want tickets for the game out in California this week!"

Stuebner had even more to say about the addictiveness of watching the lady cagers.

"We're one of those teams that, if you watch us once, you're hooked," Stuebner said with a smile. "Anybody who comes and sees those five seniors [Allison Feaster, Megan Basil, Sarah Brandt, Alison Seanor, Karun Grossman] play will want to keep coming. For anyone who hasn't seen them yet, I hope they take an interest in the upcoming game."

Pemper, taking all of the team's praise in stride, still had to comment on the amount of attention given the team.

"Everyone on campus has a reason to be proud,"Pemper said. "The girls have been a real exampleof what hard work is. All of the press that theyhave been getting is deserved. The girlsthemselves are great role models."

Although assistant coaches can often be theunsung heroes of any team, these three seem tocapture the essence of working with, not for, theteam.

Each bringing a different background to theCrimson, the coaches provide a knowledge ofstrategy, their players and what it's like to beat the center of one of America's 64 finestwomen's basketball programs

"Everyone on campus has a reason to be proud,"Pemper said. "The girls have been a real exampleof what hard work is. All of the press that theyhave been getting is deserved. The girlsthemselves are great role models."

Although assistant coaches can often be theunsung heroes of any team, these three seem tocapture the essence of working with, not for, theteam.

Each bringing a different background to theCrimson, the coaches provide a knowledge ofstrategy, their players and what it's like to beat the center of one of America's 64 finestwomen's basketball programs