Crimson Looks to Grab Second Win of Season Against Badgers

If the Harvard women’s basketball team is looking for holiday cheer on its road trip this weekend, it shouldn’t expect a welcoming host in the Wisconsin Badgers. The Crimson (1-7) enters hostile territory tonight in what promises to be a stiff non-conference test for a Harvard squad still trying to find its way. While the Crimson only has one win to its name, Wisconsin (10-2) has already reeled off ten wins and is a perfect 7-0 at the Kohl Center this season.

A win in Madison would give the Crimson, which has struggled to put together 40 solid minutes in its early non-conference games, some much-needed momentum.

After picking up its first win of the season Dec. 3 against San Jose State at the Contra Costa Times Classic in Berkeley, Calif., Harvard sputtered Tuesday against crosstown rival Boston University (BU), dropping a 77-63 decision across the Charles River.

Sophomore point guard Emily Tay led three Crimson players in double figures with 19 points, but Harvard’s team defense couldn’t stand up to its individual performances.

“[Against BU] We didn’t have the same strut, the same confidence,” coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “When you lose as many games as we’ve lost, do you know how to win, do you believe you can win?”

“We just have to put it all together in a game, and we’re struggling with that,” junior guard Lindsay Hallion added. “But we’re not giving up or getting down on ourselves. We have a bunch of really good competitors.”

The Crimson’s latest test: penetrating a defense that ranks among the nation’s best. The Badgers are allowing a stingy 52.3 points per game this season, while Harvard is giving up 75.6. If the Crimson wants to pull off the upset in Madison, scoring leader Niki Finelli will need her soft touch from the outside and forwards Katie Rollins and Christiana Lackner will have to get their teammates second chances on the boards.

Wisconsin boasts not only a tough team defense, but individual players that can score at will against less disciplined opponents. Preseason Naismith Trophy candidate Jolene Anderson averages 17 points and eight rebounds from the guard spot, while classmate Janese Banks is chipping in 14 points a game of her own.

The Crimson insists, however, that the keys to tonight’s game lie in its own hands.

“You can only think about the things that you can control, and it’s up to us to stop them defensively,” Rollins said. “If we can match their defensive intensity and stop them, that’ll disrupt their defense and everything will flow from that.”

An interesting side note for tonight’s game involves Delaney-Smith’s son Jared, who is a sophomore at Wisconsin. When at home, Jared plays on the scout team for his mother’s squad, challenging the Crimson in scrimmages at Lavietes Pavillion. Having faced him in practice, the women’s team is looking forward to having him cheer them on—if he’s able to cast aside those other loyalties.

“He better be on our side [of the arena],” Hallion said. “If he’s not, there’s going to be dues to pay when he gets back. We’re going to lay him out.”

But Harvard can’t afford to look past tonight. The Crimson plays two home games next week against Marist and Northeastern before a short break, but if it doesn’t compete against Wisconsin, the holidays won’t seem like such a homecoming. The team needs to catch fire in the non-conference part of its schedule before Ivy League action begins in 2007.

“Playing a tougher mental team is going to help us improve our mental game,” Lackner said. “It’s a good opportunity to gain some confidence.”

“The spark is going to come from our frustration with our record—we are good and our record doesn’t show that,” Rollins added. “Someone has to beat Wisconsin at home, and I think it should be us.”

—Staff writer Emily W. Cunningham can be reached at ecunning@fas.harvard.edu.