Athlete of the Week: Jen Monti `02

If you were to look at Jen Monti's stat line for the weekend, you might find it a bit plain: nine points, 10 assists against eight turnovers and five rebounds in two games.

But if you had seen Monti's performances in the final seconds of the Harvard women's basketball team's two victories, you would have known that her efforts were anything but ordinary.

With 5.7 seconds remaining in Friday night's game and Harvard trailing Brown by one, Monti took the inbound pass the length of the floor up the right sideline and drew a double-team from the Bears. The resourceful rookie used a behind-the-back dribble, nearly losing control of the ball, to shift her position on the court and heaved a fall-away three-pointer that found its mark as time expired and lifted Harvard to victory.

Just 24 hours later, Monti was at it again, this time with 6.4 seconds to play and the Crimson trailing the Elis of Yale by one. Monti received the ball in the right corner of Harvard's offensive end, held the ball as Yale double-teamed her, dribbled around the Elis, drove the lane and scooped an ever-so-gentle finger roll onto the front rim. The ball teased the crowd for a moment as it sat on the rim, but then it fell the right way for the Crimson to earn a one-point win as the buzzer sounded.

Monti might as well change her name to Clutch.

In addition to her timely shooting, the freshman point guard's 10 assists leave her just five shy of 100 for the season. Only one other player in Harvard history, Barbarann Keffer '88, has recorded 100 helpers in her rookie campaign. Monti currently leads the Ivy League in assists per conference game with 5.8.

Her heroics aside, Monti ran the Crimson's offense smoothly all weekend, helping Harvard avenge earlier losses to both Brown and Yale. The Ivy League Rookie of the Year candidate picked her passes and her shots well--her game-winner versus Brown represented her only points of the game.

For her penchant for the dramatic, and for providing Harvard basketball fans with 12.1 memorable seconds of hoops, The Crimson salutes Jen Monti as its Athlete of the Week.

--EDUARDO PEREZ-GIZ