Harvard committed seven turnovers in the first 6:32 as the Crimson seemed unable to cope with Arkansas' quickness. Smith and her backcourt mate, junior Sytia Messer, bothered Harvard's ball-handlers relentlessly on defense Smith logged three steals in the first half.
"[Smith] is an amazing point guard, and the best I have played against," co-captain Megan Basil said. "Defensively she was tough to guard and they put a lot of pressure on us. In the first half their guards caused a lot of turnovers."
Smith was a nuisance on both ends of the floor. She penetrated with ease at times, which gave her the room she needed on the outside and opened the floor for Willits to work her magic. Harvard clearly missed Janowski's physical Janowski is under observation at the StanfordMedical Center with what appears to be acomplication related to an ovarian cyst with whichshe was recently diagnosed--it is the second timeJanowski has had a cyst. She went into surgerylate last night. "Defensively I think we could have really used[Janowski]," Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smithsaid. "She's our enforcer in the lane. If shescores for us, that's extra." Arkansas opened the second half cold from thefield, but Harvard was unable to capitalize. TheCrimson did seem to adjust to the athleticism ofthe Arkansas guards after the break, committingjust five second-half turnovers, but still theshots were not falling when they needed to. Miller and junior Sarah Russell--who started inplace of Janowski--scored on back-to-back lay-upsto bring Harvard within 11, 47-36. But Messerresponded, driving in from the right side for alay-up to increase the lead to 13. Then, afterseveral misses by both teams, Smith hit a threefrom the left wing to put her team up by 16.Harvard never got closer than 13 for the remainderof the game. Willits and Messer sealed the Arkansas victorywhen they hit back-to-back threes to put the Lady'Backs up 73-49 with 6:11 remaining in the game.With 38 seconds to go, Delaney-Smith substitutedin for Feaster and co-captain Megan Basil; the twoleft to a standing ovation. Feaster finishes her Harvard career with anAll-American season in which she led the nation inscoring and led her team to one of the biggestupsets in college basketball history. With both ofthe Tournament games televised nationally, herstock among professional scouts skyrocketed thisweekend. "[Feaster] is just as good as [national Playerof the Year-candidate Chamique] Holdsclaw, justshorter," Messer said. "She reminds me of asmaller version of Natalie Williams, who is thebest player in the ABL," Blair said. "Before shehits Wall Street I hope she hits the pro leaguesfor a few years, because we need quality peoplelike her." The Lady 'Backs will now face Kansas at the NewArena in Oakland on Saturday. Arkansas is one offive SEC teams to reach the Regional Semifinals. The Crimson return to the cold reality ofCambridge this afternoon, but what a dream it was. "It's all about respect for us," Feaster said."People ask us why we would go to Harvard to playDivision I basketball, and Saturday showed why. Wehave the best of both worlds. Winning Saturday wasthe most satisfying sports experience I've everhad."