March 24, 2003

By CHUCK SCHOFFNER
AP Sports Writer

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) - Kansas State kept its cool, even as a big lead melted away.

The third-seeded Wildcats withstood a late run by 14th-seeded Harvard and pulled out a 79-69 victory Sunday night in the first round of the East Regional.

"I was never nervous or worried about them getting control of the game," said Kansas State's Kendra Wecker, who led K-State with 21 points. "We stayed composed, even though they had some huge 3s."

Kansas State (29-4) had to fight off Harvard down the stretch after the Crimson sliced a 19-point lead to eight with 3½ minutes remaining. But Harvard (22-5) couldn't get any closer and had its 16-game winning streak broken.

"Like I thought before the tournament, we are better than a No. 14 seed," Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. "I think Kansas State is one of the best in the country. I would love to see them win it all."

Nicole Ohlde added 20 points for Kansas State and Laurie Koehn scored 17. Koehn made five free throws in the final minute to help secure the victory and send the Wildcats into a second-round game Tuesday night against 11th-seeded Notre Dame.

Notre Dame advanced with a 59-47 upset of sixth-seeded Arizona.

Reka Cserny led Harvard with 25 points before fouling out. Hana Peljto, the Ivy League player of the year, had 15 points but shot just 4-for-15. Beverly Moore, the smallest player on the floor at 5-foot-2, scored 14 for the Ivy League champs.

"I felt like every time we got real close, they would hit a big shot on us," Peljto said. "That is what the game is about. It is about the runs. So credit Kansas State for hitting the big shot and having the composure to finish out the game, even with our big run."

Ahead by eight early in the second half, Kansas State seemed on the verge of breaking it open when Chelsea Domenico and Koehn hit 3-pointers just 23 seconds apart. Domenico connected from the left wing and Koehn was mistakenly left wide open at the top of the key.

Wecker then stole an inbounds pass and went in for a layup, stretching the lead to 53-37 with 16:11 left. The Wildcats got the lead up to 58-39 but still couldn't shake their feisty opponent.

Cserny, a 6-3 sophomore who gave Kansas State problems with some unorthodox moves, scored the next eight Harvard points to keep the Crimson within striking distance. Her turnaround jumper from the right baseline left Harvard trailing 60-47, and her team continued to chip away after that, even after she fouled out with 5:56 remaining.

Kate Ides' 3-pointer from the top of the key cut the lead to 67-58 and she made another 3, this one from the right wing, to draw Harvard to 69-61 with 3:29 left. The Crimson had two chances to get closer, but Peljto missed a driving shot, and Moore threw up an airball trying to beat the shot clock with just over a minute to play.

"We wanted to put pressure on their guards," Kansas State coach Deb Patterson said. "We knew that if we were to continue to play the way we had and continue to get the looks, our defense would hold. We just had that confidence."

Kansas State finally nailed down the victory by sinking 9-of-11 free throws in the last 1:03. Wecker made a big play by rebounding one of the misses when the lead was 70-61. That led to a pair of free throws by Koehn, making it 72-61 with 57.4 seconds left.

Ohlde scored 15 points in helping Kansas State build a 43-30 halftime lead. She made her first seven shots in finished 8-for-9 but was limited to one shot in the final 17 minutes.

"In the second half, we decided to use everybody we had, as opposed to what we did with Ohlde in the first half," Delaney-Smith said. "We went back to the drawing board."