Refreshed, revved and ready, all is right for hoops matriarch Kathy Delaney-Smith.

She talks with the relaxed air of an underdog. Calm and poised, the Ivy League’s winningest ball coach understands that, for the deeper, more unknown 2004-2005 installment of Harvard women’s basketball, there’s little to lose.

On one recent morning, she looks comfortable—mellow, quick to smile, gushing about her bevy of young, athletic starters.

On second thought, maybe she’s just pondering the sandy beaches of the French Riviera.

That’s where Harvard’s two top all-time scoring leaders—Hana Peljto ’04 and Allison Feaster ’98—have conveniently congregated to play out a full season schedule in France’s top professional league.

Well, one half of that tandem—Peljto, a rookie forward for the Cavigal Nice Basket club—is situated in that sunny spot. Feaster, star of Valenciennes, will play in northern France, near the chillier Belgian border.

On Feb. 12, the Crimson’s most illustrious duo will face off against each other for the first time ever.

“My big joke is that I’m going over to watch the game,” Delaney-Smith says. “But I’m staying with Hana.”

Unfortunately for all parties, the date coincides with Yale’s visit to Lavietes Pavilion.

That doesn’t mar the significance. The pillars of two eras of Harvard basketball will still collide.

Feaster, a 2004 WNBA All-Star for the Charlotte Sting, was the leader of a Crimson team that scored the biggest upset in college basketball history—a toppling of No. 1-seed Stanford in the first round of the 1998 NCAA tournament.

Peljto, the graceful Bosnian, led Harvard to new heights—in team success, class and dignity—in her four years as a member of the All-Ivy First-Team.

They have never shared the court. Neither did Magic and Kobe.

ON THE RIVIERA

“My transition has definitely involved some adjustment,” says Peljto, who plays Clermont next week.