"Yale hates us; their intent was to just nail us," Delaney-Smith said.

Neither team led by more than three points the rest of the way, and it looked as if the Bulldogs might steal the victory when Grubbs hit a lay-up to put Yale ahead 53-50 with 3:09 to play. But Janowski answered Grubbs with a lay-up of her own off a nice high-low feed from Ryba, and the stage was set for Monti to perform.

"Yale said some things in the [Yale Daily News] about how we were their most hated rival and that their one goal in the season was to beat us twice," Janowski said. "They have really good post players, and they are very deep. I think [Grubbs] is a great player; I would love to have her on my team."

Both teams used full-court pressure effectively the entire evening, but it seemed most helpful to the Crimson's cause. Yale held a slim, 30-28 lead at halftime and came out hot in the second half, while Harvard suffered a brief scoring drought. Unable to convert baskets, the Crimson was consequently unable to press, and the Bulldogs capitalized on the opportunity to build their 10-point lead.

Once Harvard started connecting on its shots, however, the press returned. Harvard's full-court pressure did not lead to many steals, but it certainly unnerved Yale, especially up front where Kowal and senior guard Kelly Kinneen frustrated Denit and the rest of Yale's guard corps all evening. Yale was consistently forced into poor offensive sets by a press that used up half the shot clock before the Bulldogs crossed halfcourt.

Harvard won the battle of the boards 36-33 and held Yale to below 40 percent shooting from the floor. The Crimson shot 43.8 percent one night after a 45.9 percent shooting performance and hit 6 of 14 shots from beyond the three-point arc.

Miller's 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting led all scorers, and she added four rebounds. Apparently inspired by the pre-game ceremony honoring the Crimson's four seniors, Miller played her best game of the season.

She scored Harvard's final points of the first half in dramatic fashion. Miller took a cross-court bounce pass from Kinneen deep in the right corner, launched a three-pointer that found nothing but net and drew the foul. She converted the free throw to complete Harvard's only four-point play of the season.