Breaking Brackets: Harvard's Cinderella Story in the 1998 Women's Tournament

On March fourteenth, nineteen ninety eight, was the very first time any sixteen seed have been on seed in men's or women's when the women's Harvard basketball team beat the number one Stanford in the biggest upset in women's college basketball March Madness. Here's a story behind this madness on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reees, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day. Before we get into the actual game, how do we get to this point, Well, let's first look at Stamford, the incoming power. They were being led by strong coach Tara Vandever, who had been there for thirteen years and been in consecutive NCAA tournaments since nineteen eighty seven, reaching the final four in nineteen ninety and winning their first championship that year. They had reached five of their final fours between nineteen ninety two and had won ten straight pecked in titles in their history, and the senior class that year had a record of one hundred and thirteen wins versus thirteen losses leading up until this tournament game. But unfortunately, their two stars that year had gone down just before the first round of the tournament, Starviness at good Vanguard tore her Acl and Kristin Vocal landed awkwardly in a practice and tore her Acl as well, and neither would play in this game. But that didn't mean Stafford didn't have a strong bench to pick up the slag. But the problem was they ran into a Harvard team that was very underrated. They had made the NCAA tournament for the third straight year, being led by the nation's leading scorer in Alison Feaster, who was averaging over twenty eight points a game that year, and despite making the tournaments for the previous three years, they were still given the sixteenth seed that they had been given previously, which made them angry and want a chance to make history. The game actually happened in Stanford, California, as at that time the top seeds played their first rounds at home. There was over five thousand people in attendance, and Sanford had won fifty nine straight games at home up to that point. Harvard quickly took the lead with a three pointer, although Harvard would take control back quickly with the twenty two and nine street building a lead of twenty two and nine with nine minutes left in the first half. Although Stanford would battle back to make the lead forty two to thirty four at halftime, they never seemed to get any traction to get control back until Susie Miller sank a jumper that made the score sixty six to sixty five. But Harvard wouldn't let this stand and Alison Feaster finish off the game, leading them to a seventy one to sixty seven victory, with Alison Feaster scoring thirty five points and having thirteen rebounds, finishing the game as the game's MVP. On this historic victory as the first sixteen seed and either men's or women's to beat a number one seed would be another twenty years before a men's team would do the same whin umbc be Virginia in twenty eighteen, but this is still the only sixteen seed in women's basketball to beat a number one seat. But unfortunately, Harvard's Cinderella story would end with the loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks in the next round, and it wouldn't be ed till twenty fifteen with another IVY League school would win a tournament game. So what did it take for Harvard to win. While it took some luck with injuries, it also took them having a great star on the team, as Alison went on to be in the WNBA and play in overseas as well be an All Star while she played in the WNBA. Just goes to show you you may never know who you're going up against at these small schools, who might be a legend in the making. Thank you for listening to today's Daily Sports History. If you enjoyed this, please rate and review wherever you're listening. I love to hear how you're doing and how you're enjoying the show, because honestly, it makes me feel good that you're joining the show. So rate and review wherever you're listening, and come back tomorrow for more Daily Sports History.