Sports briefs

B-ball food drive to benefit area pantry

Members of Harvard’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee will be collecting nonperishable food items this Sunday (Dec. 16) at the Harvard men’s basketball game against Vermont. Tip-off is at 2 p.m. in Lavietes Pavilion. All donations will benefit the Allston-Brighton Food Pantry.

Grapplers take tumble at Hofstra

The No. 14 Hofstra University wrestling team dispatched visiting Harvard, 25-12, this past Sunday afternoon (Dec. 9) to hand the Crimson its first dual-meet loss of the young season. Boasting four nationally ranked wrestlers, the Pride (3-3) captured its first three matches en route to winning seven of 10 on the day.

Harvard finally got on the board in the 149-pound competition when third-ranked sophomore J.P. O’Connor earned a 4-2 decision over Mitch Smith. The Pride then rattled off another cluster of unanswered victories in the middleweight contests to take a hefty 22-3 advantage.

The Crimson managed to chip away at the lead, however, following victories by eighth-ranked Louis Caputo ’09 in the 184-pound contest and Billy Colgan ’08 at 197 pounds. Caputo pinned his opponent in 4:26, while Colgan rallied in the final minute to record a 10-7 win over junior Richard Vitale. Hofstra heavyweight James Guerin closed out the action with a hard-fought 6-4 win opposite Harvard’s Andrew Knapp ’10 to set up the final tally.

The 20th-ranked Crimson return to the mat Dec. 29-30 for the Midlands Champs in Evanston, Ill.

Women rebound vs. BU for ‘W’

The Harvard women’s basketball team outscored visiting BU in the second half, 34 to 20, to set up a 72-62 come-from-behind win on Tuesday evening (Dec. 11). Harvard was spurred by a 23 to 7 run in the latter half, which, coupled with the Terriers’ dreadful shooting (21 percent), allowed the hosts to erase their double-digit deficit and take the lead.

Senior guard Lindsay Hallion finished tied for a game-high 19 points, 14 of which she scored after halftime. She also recorded eight boards, four assists, and three steals. With the victory — Harvard’s first against its cross-town rival in four seasons — the Crimson improve to 6-4.