If one game has ever defined a season for an athletic team, it did so on the night of March 14, 1998 for Harvard women's basketball.

For two hours on that balmy Saturday evening in California, Harvard (23-5, 12-2 Ivy) mesmerized a national television audience--the first in Harvard women's basketball history--thrilled its fans, shocked the dominant power in women's collegiate basketball and upended the college game.

The Crimson traveled to Palo Alto as the 16th seed in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament to face the No. 1-seeded and fifth-ranked Stanford Cardinal on its home court in the first round.

This was the Cardinal who won two national championships, in 1990 and 1992; the Cardinal who had made 10 consecutive Sweet Sixteen appearances, three straight Final Four appearances and six Final Four appearances in the last eight years; the Cardinal who had never exited an NCAA Tournament in the first round since Coach Tara Van-Derveer assumed leadership in 1981; the Cardinal who had won 59 consecutive games on its home floor at Maples Pavilion--Stanford's seniors had never lost a game at Maples.

Record: 23-5, 12-2 Ivy

Coach: Kathy Delaney-Smith

Highlights: Wins third straight league title; defeats top-seeded Stanford in the first round of the NCAA Tournament; Allison Feaster named Kodak All-American

Seniors: Megan Basil, Sarah Brandt, Allison Feaster, Karun Grossman, Alison Seanor

And they squared off against a Harvard Crimson team who was making only its third-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament; the same Crimson that had lost its two previous tournament games by an average of 21 points; the same Crimson no one paid any attention to, including Stanford.

That was the Cardinal sin.

Led by a dominant 35-point, 13-rebound effort from co-captain and Kodak All-American Allison Feaster, Harvard became the first 16th seed in the history of the men's or women's NCAA Tournament to defeat a No. 1 seed, stunning Stanford to the tune of a 71-67 upset in front of a live television audience on ESPN. With one night's work, Harvard entered the realm of prime-time college athletics behind an emphatic and deafening charge whose effects are still resonating nearly three months later and probably will continue to do so for many months to come.

"It was an incredible experience," said co-captain Megan Basil. "It was something that we and the world of women's basketball will never forget. It was amazing to be a part of it."

The Crimson's accomplishment cannot be overstated. Simply put, it made national history. Even if another 16 seed comes along one day and duplicates the feat, Harvard was still the first. Moreover, the likelihood of another non-scholarship school matching the Crimson's achievement is slim, at best.

"[Beating Stanford] gave me a glimpse of what big-time basketball is all about," Miller said. "A lot of us passed up scholarships to some pretty good schools to come to Harvard, and maybe we could have experienced this before, but there's nothing like experiencing it with the Harvard basketball team, especially because we play for the love of the sport."

Aside from its historical significance, however, Harvard's victory elicited the type of reaction seldom evoked by a sporting event, especially here in Cambridge. Thousands of students gathered around any television set they could find in the wee hours of the morning on March 15, 1998--the game began shortly after 9 p.m. Western Time, midnight on the East Coast--to watch their women's basketball team make history.