“When things get rough for us, we always look to Jenn to see what we should do next,” sophomore forward Hana Peljto said. “A lot of times when we all really don’t know what we’re doing out there, she keeps us calm. She’s just a great point guard that knows her X’s and O’s. Sometimes we take her for granted, and we find that out when she’s not in the game.”
The Crimson hasn’t had too many tastes of life without Monti, though. Monti’s 35.4 minutes per game lead the team, and all her hard work finally seems to be paying off. Her rekindled enthusiasm is evident in hearing her describe Sunday’s selection show.
“I was holding Hana’s hand and we were squeezing, just so excited,” Monti said. “We were little kids again. It was okay to have a passion.”
Monti knows, though, that they’re far from little kids on the basketball court.
“I trust these 13 other women more than I trust anybody in the world right now,” she said.
Is this year’s edition of the Crimson better than the 1998-1999 team?
“I would be pretty confident putting us up there against anything the Ivy [League] has ever thrown out,” Monti said.
Now, it’s just a matter of carrying that confidence over to Saturday. The team has been practicing against some of the football players to prepare for UNC’s size and athleticism. The 5’6 Monti, as usual, will be one of the shortest players on the court and will have her work cut out for her trying to keep up with UNC’s quicker guards. But Barnard isn’t worried.
“They might be a little taller than she is and a little more athletic, but she’s got the brains and the guts to handle it,” she said.
Whenever Harvard’s season does come to an end, Monti expects to leave basketball behind her. A biochemical sciences concentrator, she hopes to become involved with vaccine development in poor countries. But athletics will remain a part of her life—she plans to begin competing in triathlons and learn to play tennis.
Before she gets that chance, though, Monti has at least one more game to play, and it just happens to be on basketball’s biggest stage. But she’s not worried about the pressure. In fact, she can’t wait.
“There’s nothing better than having the ball in your hands at the end of the game,” she said.
Actually, the Crimson would be happy to have it in Monti’s capable hands all game, with her making snap decisions, breaking UNC’s press and orchestrating Harvard’s offense.
Monti will be doing one more thing, too—loving every minute of it.