In fact, Gates scored the Crimson's first five points against Dartmouth to pace a game-opening 7-0 run. Gates also scored five points in Harvard's 10-0 opening run that buried Boston University on Tuesday.

The opening minutes of a game may not always be as important as the closing minutes, but this weekend, Gates's early scoring against B.U. and Dartmouth allowed Harvard to gain breathing room that it never relinquished--thus reducing the final minutes of each game to garbage time.

If Gates keeps this up, she may never need to make a buzzer-beating winner for the rest of her life.

Monti played one of the best all-around halves of her career against Dartmouth last year when she had four field goals and four assists in the first period. This year, she had five assists to just one turnover--far and away her best ratio of the season.

Twice in the second half, Monti proved herself to be the only player in the league capable--in one swift motion--of maneuvering across the top of the key, throwing up a perfectly accurate shot and then pumping her fist in celebration. Her final score put Harvard up 12 with under two minutes to play and signaled a certain end to the Big Green comeback chances.

That Unhappy March Tradition

Harvard has failed to win the Dartmouth rematch each of the past three years, including last year's 96-74 thrashing at Dartmouth. Even the universally acclaimed '97-98 Harvard team fell, 87-76, at Leede in its final game before the Stanford upset.

Each of the past two years, Dartmouth has improved over the season's second half and garnered at least a share of the Ivy title while Harvard--mainly due to injuries--has fallen off significantly by the end of the season.