Sturdy's Shoulders Will Bolster W. Basketball Hopes

Laela Sturdy is anxious.

The captain of the Harvard women's basketball team is ready for the season to start. With an influx of youth, height and talent, she knows that this could be the best team in Harvard history.

And it's up to her to lead the Crimson back to its former glory.

Two years ago, the Harvard women's basketball team did the impossible, knocking off top-seeded Stanford in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Last year was a different story as the team struggled to a 10-15 record.

So the team is looking to make an about-face, and Sturdy, an outstanding student as well as scorer, will be up to the challenge.

A native of Cooper City, Fla., Sturdy will guide a team that features five sophomores and four freshmen. Sturdy is one of only two seniors on the team.

Even though Sturdy stands 6', she will have to "look up" to many of her younger, taller teammates as they look up to her as a mentor.

A dedicated worker on and off the court, Sturdy will serve as a mentor to the younger players. Although she ended her season last January with a severe ankle sprain, the forward leads all returning players with 12.1 points per game, 5.3 assists per game and a 57.6 field-goal percentage.

"At the time [of her injury], she was really on course to be, at the very least, an incredible scorer," Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said.

Despite her injury, Sturdy said she feels more ready than ever for the new season. She spent the off-season rehabilitating her ankle and is confident she is healthy now.

"She just picked up right where she left off," Delaney-Smith said. "She [still] has a phenomenal ability to put the ball in the basket."

Even though she is a skilled scorer, Sturdy said her only individual goal this year is of a team nature.

"I hope to be a strong leader on and off the court," Sturdy said, "and to help the team keep its common vision in mind."

Sturdy has high expectations for the Crimson's season. The team never played up to its potential last year, she believes, and the season was a disappointment. Over the off-season, Sturdy said, the Crimson had an opportunity to reflect on its play and get ready for the new season.

"We all went home this summer and worked hard and recommitted ourselves," Sturdy said.

Sturdy said she hopes the team will find its chemistry early on.

"We have all the physical skills we need to execute and play intelligently," she said. "We will win."

As devoted as Sturdy is to her teammates, she is just as faithful to her studies. A biochemistry concentrator, Sturdy passed on basketball scholarships early in her senior year of high school because she knew she wanted to go to an Ivy League school where she could focus on both academics and basketball.

In the end, she chose between Brown, Princeton, Penn and Harvard. A visit to Cambridge sealed the deal.

"I just really liked the players and [Coach Delaney-Smith]," Sturdy said. "I knew I wanted to come here."

Indeed, Sturdy has taken advantage of Harvard's opportunities off the court. She said she has been a Group I student almost every semester.

She has been a freshman prefect since sophomore year, is the Undergraduate Athletic Council representative for women's basketball and spent last summer in England and Ireland writing for Let's Go Publications.

While Sturdy has had a great experience at Harvard, she has also been sure to remember how lucky she is and to give back to others during her time here.

She tutors children through Eliot House's Housing and Neighborhood Development Program and worked last spring as a construction volunteer on a Habitat for Humanity site.

"I like to stay involved in the whole Harvard community, and not just basketball," Sturdy said.

Sturdy is also active in the Harvard-Radcliffe Foundation for Women in Athletics. In addition, the entire team runs a clinic once a year for National Women and Girls in Sports Day.

This past weekend, the team ran a clinic at a local school for children with behavioral, emotional and psychological disorders. Team members will remain pen pals with the children.

Sturdy is remembering the many experiences she has had at Harvard in planning what she will do after graduation. Harvard has nominated her for the Rhodes scholarship, and she is applying for a Fulbright grant and other fellowships that would enable her to be in England or Ireland next year.

Sturdy is also considering attending graduate school someday but knows it will be in a subject other than biochemistry.

"I don't like being kept inside in lab for long periods of time," she said. "So graduate school would be in some other area."

While she would love to study overseas, Sturdy is not yet anxious to leave Harvard. For now, she is concentrating on senior year and her final season.

"My first and second years here, we really set the standard for what Harvard basketball should be," she said. "The few older players on the team are really a link to that Harvard tradition in basketball."

She should not have a hard time being an effective leader. Indeed, Sturdy is one of the toughest and most outgoing players on the team.

In a game in front of many family and friends at Florida Atlantic a few years ago, Sturdy had her front tooth knocked out. On her way down after making a shot, a player on the opposing team elbowed Sturdy in the mouth and dislodged the tooth. Sturdy went out for a few minutes, got cleaned up and was quickly back to finish the game.

For the rest of the game, she heard her cousins yelling "Toothless Twelve," in reference to her jersey number. After the game, Sturdy went to the dentist to get her mouth outfitted with a fake tooth.

But her experience provided a valuable lesson for the rest of the team.

"Now the whole team wears mouth-guards," she said.

During this season, though, Harvard will follow more than just Sturdy's safety precautions. The team will take its cue from her notion of team play. Sturdy believes team interaction is crucial to its success this year.

"Communication on and off the court is key," Sturdy said. "We always have to make sure we are committed and focused as a team."

Along with her vocal presence, Sturdy hopes to demonstrate what she wants from her team by her own actions.

"I want to lead by example," Sturdy said, "and lead this team to where we know we want to go."

If she does that, the team could be going to the NCAA tournament in March.