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Cagers' Remarkable Season Remembered

The 1985-'86 Women's Basketball Year in Review

January 31 and February 1: Just when everyone had put the brooms back in the closet, the hoopsters pull off their second consecutive weekend sweep of Ivy foes. This time, the victims are Yale (avenging the earlier loss) and Brown (again). The Crimson shoots a season-high 63 percent from the floor against the Elis and then comes back to hit at a 64 percent clip in the second-half against the Bruins.

11 different Cantabs score in the Yale affair--in which Harvard snaps a 12-game/nine-year losing streak against the Bulldogs. Sophomore point guard Barbarann Keffer nets 22 points, hands out eight assists, and comes up with four steals as the Crimson shut down Brown the following night, setting up a mid-week showdown at Dartmouth for first place.

February 4: The Big Green embarrases Harvard in the first half in Hanover; the Crimson manages only 28 percent shooting from the floor while being outscored 44-25. Harvard stages a gutsy second half comeback but still loses by 11, spoiling yet another spectacular individual performance by Keffer (whose 28 points figures second-best in the all-time Crimson record book).

Dartmouth, which converts 35-of-39 free throw opportunites to tie an Ivy record, takes sole possession of first place.

February 7 and 8: The cagers regroup to shoot 51 percent from the floor and make 20-of-21 from the foul line in defeating Cornell, 84-72, Saturday night raising their record to 13-6 (7-2 Ivy). The victory also assures Harvard at least one win over every Ivy opponent in the same year for the first time ever.

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The very next evening in Ithaca, the cellar-dwelling Big Red somehow find a way to defeat Dartmouth, 58-57, lifting the Crimson back into a first place tie with the Big Green.

February 14: In their worst loss since B.C., the hoopsters are derailed by Princeton, 84-72, in New Jersey while Dartmouth is romping over Penn in Philadelphia. The Crimson makes less than a third of its field goal attempts and records only one assist in the 22-point trouncing.

Despite once again dropping a full game off the league pace with but two Ivy contests remaining, Delaney Smith remarks after the Valentine's Day massacre that she still believes Dartmouth will lose another game.

February 15, 9:05 p.m.: The Crimson keeps its Ivy title hopes alive by crushing Penn, 80-65, completing a two-game season sweep of the Quakers. The hoopsters bear no resemblence to the squad that lost to Princeton the previous night, shooting 50 percent from the field and tallying 22 assists. The only dark spot is that Duncan's consecutive string from the free throw line ends at 30.

February 15, 9:15 p.m.: Delaney Smith admits after the win that, "This was a great season, even if Dartmouth doesn't lose another game."

February 15, 9:30 p.m.: Delaney Smith's post-Princeton prophecy is realized as word comes to the Palestra that Princeton has just upset Dartmouth, 69-67. The Big Green loss yet again lifts the Crimson back into the picture with only Cornell remaining on each squad's Ivy schedule.

February 21: Dartmouth clinches at least a tie for its fifth title in the last seven years by whipping Cornell, 67-50, in Hanover. Harvard is now forced to defeat the Big Red at Briggs the following night or be eliminated from the Ivy race.

February 22: The Harvard women's basketball team gains a share of its first-ever Ivy League championship by blowing out Cornell, 77-57, before a season-high crowd at Briggs. Chandler leads the way with 16 points while Keffer dishes out eight more assists and Duncan blocks six more shots. 84 years of frustration finally come to an end.

February 23: The Crimson wins an early-morning coin toss with Dartmouth and chooses home-court advantage in the first and last (don't ask) Ivy Tournament. For its part, the Big Green receives the number one seed in the tourney and an accompanying first round bye. If all goes as planned, the two will meet in a re-match Sunday afternoon at 2:30 in the tourney's final round.

Let the tournament begin.

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