Moore Toughs It Out Until Season’s End

If quickness isn’t your forte, then guarding Bev Moore would be a nightmare.

Moore’s ball-handling skills and speed reveal the senior point guard to be one of the most agile players in the league.

Standing at 5’2, Moore hasn’t let her height get in the way of playing Division I basketball, so when she injured her ankle in December, she wasn’t about to let that stop her either.

Moore suffers from an inflammation of the bone lining in her ankle, which could lead to a stress fracture without the appropriate care. She has not, however, missed a game of her final season and due to proper care and treatment, has improved immensely since the pain began.

“It was frustrating early on when it was really bad,” Moore said. “It’d be like, oh my gosh, this really hurts. Plus, I’ve never really had anything nagging at me like this. Thank goodness, I’ve been pretty injury-free most of my career.”

Moore benefited from taking almost two weeks off during exam period, when she rested and rehabilitated. Her treatment includes icing after practice and games and ultrasound work with the trainer.

Even after those two weeks, Moore still feels the occasional pang of pain and soreness after every game.

“I’ve just gotten used to playing with it that way,” she said.

After starting the final 16 games of last season, Moore has retained the starting role at point guard the entire season.

Her time on the floor may be indicative of just how valuable Moore is—she played the entire 40 minutes against Kansas State in the NCAAs last year, notching 14 points against the Wildcats.

The diminutive point guard never saw the bench during Harvard’s 77-70 loss to Rutgers on Dec. 30, although Moore was feeling the brunt of her injury.

The decision to continue playing in every game, however, was one that she probably would not have made had this been her last season.

“It’s really hard to take time off, especially with the Ivy League games, I would say it would have to be pretty bad,” Moore said. “The trainer probably would have liked for me to have sat out a game or two, especially in December when we still had a couple games left before the break.”

The respite Moore has allowed herself consists of sitting out of extra runs and the occasional day off.

“It’s much better now…and on the days when there’s been more pain than usual, [Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith]’s been really good about letting me take the day off and rest it,” Moore said.

When she is on the court, Moore has managed her role without reprieve; in fact, aside from the rare grimace and the tape on her ankle, one would not know that Moore has been playing injured.

“While we know her injury can be very painful, it doesn’t seem to have been much of a factor affecting her play or our play this season,” co-captain Tricia Tubridy said.

In addition to running the point, she averages 5.7 points per game. Moore, always a shrewd and careful ball handler, also commits very few turnovers—1.625 per game—in spite of her ample playing time and Harvard’s propensity to turn the ball over.

Moore’s statistic for the highlight reels hasn’t suffered either. Last year she boasted a .429 three-point percentage, good enough for 16th in the nation had she made enough shots to be ranked. This year, Moore has again not made enough shots to qualify for rankings—she makes 1.33 treys a game, while the NCAA requires two—her inspired .464 accuracy from behind the arc would be fourth in the nation.

In addition to not letting pain affect her on the court, Moore has not permitted herself the luxury of complaint in the locker room either.

“Bev’s kept her injury mostly to herself throughout the season,” Tubridy said. “We all know that sometimes she has to play through pain, but she never makes an issue out of it.”

Moore’s toughness may come in handy next year when she turns in her uniform for another kind of suit entirely, beginning work as an analyst for Goldman Sachs. “Time permitting,” Moore still hopes to find a place on the courts of New York.

“I feel like as I start work, I’ll start missing it more,” Moore said. “But, living in New York, I’m sure there are tons of leagues.”

In the meantime, Moore and her fellow seniors, Tubridy and co-captain Hana Peljto, have just three games left in their illustrious careers. Although sitting fourth in the Ivy League was not part of the original game plan, Moore eagerly anticipates the chance to play spoiler for top-ranked Penn this Saturday.

Even though this season has not turned out as she had hoped, Moore points to the Crimson’s games against nonconference powerhouses as highlights of her career here.

“I’m the kind of player that really enjoys the big games and I thought we had a lot of fun ones early on,” Moore said. “I get really psyched up about the big games.”

Her excitement comes through on paper, too—Moore scored 11 points, including three three-pointers, against No. 13 Colorado and nine points against Rutgers.

In spite of her love of contests against the top teams in the nation, Moore doesn’t lament her transfer from No. 6 Louisiana Tech at all.

“I definitely made the right decision and don’t have any regrets about that,” Moore said.

—Staff writer Jessica T. Lee can be reached at lee45@fas.harvard.edu.