"Southern Illinois is tough, although Arizona is probably the strongest team there," Delaney-Smith said. "They have a strong program and will be a good test."

McClendon, the two-time Missouri Valley Conference defensive player of the year and an All-Conference selection last year, could be a one-person wrecking crew. Last year she led Southern Illinois in scoring, three-point baskets, assists, steals, and minutes. Also, her 3.7 steals per game average placed her 15th in the nation.

"She's real athletic and strong one-on-one, so they do a lot of isolation," Delaney-Smith said. "She has speed and height, so we might put [5-9] junior forward Allison Feaster or [5-10] junior guard Alison Seanor on her. We also might play zone, since they have not shown a lot of stand-up outside shooting."

Harvard offers plenty of offensive fire power of its own to keep the Salukis' hands full, however, especially with Feaster, the top player in the Ancient Eight last year.

Feaster averaged a double-double last year (18 points, 10 rebounds per game) and has not let up at all this season (19 points, 12 rebounds). She also recently reached a landmark by scoring her 1,000th career point in the Pepperdine game.

Co-captain Jessica Gelman has played well to date as the only other double-figure Harvard scorer (12.3 points a contest) and team leader in assists, with 5.5 per contest.

The Harvard hoopsters don't plan to make the trip all the way out to Arizona to play in a consolation game like they had to last weekend.

Tonight, they'll try to make sure that it's the Salukis who have a long, sad trip home.