But on the ensuing inbounds, Monti took a feedfrom freshman Ryba, scooted up the right side ofthe floor and, drawing a double team on the rightwing, took an off-balance fadeaway three-pointerthat found nothing but the bottom of the net.

It was her only make of the game. Teammates andfans alike streamed onto the hardwood, and thegame that was to be Redding's coup de grace becameMonti's coup d' etat.

"The play was to go to either Lisa [Kowal] orme and, since we were only down one, we would justdrive to the hole," Monti said. "I came down [tothe Harvard end] and looked up and the clock wasat 4.4, and that's really a lot of time to make amove, so I knew I had one move."

"I wasn't really concerned about it not goingin. It felt good all the way," she added.

Monti's basket recovered a lead Harvard hadheld for 15:55 before losing it on Cathy Miller'sapparently game-winning lay-up.

After a maddeningly even first half thatfeatured seven lead changes--including five in astretch of 2:45--Harvard took control in thesecond. Down 38-35 with 16:18 to play, the Crimsonexploded on a 19-8 run engineered largely by itssecond unit.

Ryba began the run with a lay-in from the rightblock off a nifty pass from Egelhoff. The 6'3neophyte scored 8 of her 11 points in the secondhalf.

Russell followed with a turnaround in the laneto give the Crimson a one-point lead, an advantageit would stubbornly guard until the waningseconds.

The Harvard run was an orgy of transitionbaskets and quick-developing post plays at a paceforeign to the Crimson for much of the season. Thetwo teams scored 12 points in a stretch of 2:07,as relatively unfamiliar names like SharonNunamaker and Kelly Kinneen peppered thescoresheet.

Kinneen made the most of her nine minutes,playing conspicuously aggressive defense onRedding. During one sequence, Kinneen scored alay-up and drew a foul on the offensive end, thenhustled back on defense and coolly ripped the ballfrom Redding's hands for a steal.

Trying to defend Brown's star guard was theorder of the day for Delaney-Smith's troops.Redding oozes presence, and she made it knownearly on. With a lay-up, a pair of baselinejumpers and a three in Egelhoff's face, she scoredBrown's first nine points before Harvard had timeto blink.

Throughout the first half, Redding put herentire repertoire of fadeaways, spot-up jumpersand baseline slashes on display.

Egelhoff responded capitally. With her teamdown 9-5 early, Egelhoff scored the Crimson's nexteight points on a pair of back-to-back threes anda jumper from the right side.

"At the beginning of the game, I was reallyfrustrated with my defense--I couldn't even give[Redding] half an inch or else she would score,"Egelhoff said. "Vita was scoring on me three, fourtimes in a row, and I just got really pissed. Ikind of wanted the ball."

Redding's early antics set the stage for thegame's finale. Although the Crimson's lead was ashigh as nine points with 5:33 to play in thesecond half, the Bears erased a good part of it inthe final two minutes.