Injuries Plague Valuable Starters

BOSTON­—In last night’s road loss at Northeastern, roughly half of the Harvard bench wore mesh Crimson uniforms.

The other half, donned in the grim black jumpsuits of the team’s injured, served as a constant and visible reminder of the team’s rotten luck.

“We’ve been bitten by the bug real bad,” sophomore guard Lindsay Hallion said.

Joining a trio of hobbled freshman on the sidelines was co-captain Jessica Holsey, who sat ominously on the bench with a mystery injury that she sustained in practice on Tuesday. The team’s offensive leader and top returning scorer from last season, Holsey was sorely missed against the Huskies.

Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith declined comment on the specifics, only to say that “it’s going to be a day-by-day thing.”

“We’d be doing a disservice if we blamed [the team’s poor performance] on that,” she said. “We’re a good enough team to handle Jess being out.”

To cover for Holsey’s absence, Delaney-Smith employed freshman Emily Tay, sophomores Hallion and Jessica Knox, and senior Laura Robinson in several combination guard shifts. Robinson manned the point, as usual.

The results were mixed. Hallion (15 points) and Tay (nine points) each accomplished career highs in scoring, and Robinson added 14 points. But the three guards also committed 10 of the team’s 18 turnovers. And except for intermittent bursts of eyebrow-raising skill?especially in the team’s strong second half?Hallion and Tay lacked the aggressiveness that had Delaney-Smith raving during preseason practices.

“Lindsay and Emily have a lot of talent,” she said, “and they’re not using it yet.”

Freshmen forwards Katie Rollins, Liz Tindal, and Niki Finelli, who have battled injuries all season, filled out the rest of the team’s unfortunate jumpsuit brigade.

“NO CONFIDENCE”

At 2-4, the Crimson has not reached the heights that observers expected its talent would take it.

More puzzling is the fact that the team has played extremely well in two dominant wins against Alabama State and Rhode Island, and in a six-point loss at UVA last weekend.

“I have no idea,” Delaney-Smith said. “I am very, very disappointed in the fluctuating personality of this team. It shouldn’t be this way. We have enough of everything. We have enough talent, we have enough depth, we have enough height, athleticism.”

“It is our fluctuating approach to the game that is very hard to predict,” she added. “And I’m running out of answers.”

Delaney-Smith noted confidence disparities between the two teams as especially important last night.

“[Northeastern is] very confident,” she said. “They started the game very confident. They came out of that [70-65 loss at Kansas last week] with a newfound confidence, the way we should’ve come out of our Virginia game.”

LEARNING TO COPE

Northeastern senior Quiana Copeland, a transfer from Providence College, dominated stretches of the game with her size?she stands at a solid 6’2?strength, and speed. She finished with 22 points and 15 rebounds, overshadowing a solid performance by the Huskies’ star point guard, Shaleyse Smallwood.

“She’s a nice player,” Delaney-Smith said. “Athletically, it’s a hard matchup for us, but if you pay attention to fundamentals like we’re supposed to do, we’re not supposed to try to out-jump her. We’re supposed to put a body on her and we didn’t do that.”

Overall, the Crimson was out-rebounded by a 40-28 margin, including 22-11 in the first half.

“The first half was absolutely horrible,” Delaney-Smith said. “And that’s all we talked about for three months. So talk is cheap.”

—Staff writer Alex McPhillips can be reached at rmcphill@fas.harvard.edu.