Scorecard

Each field goal was worth one point, not two, and a team was also awarded a point when the opposing team committed three consecutive fouls. There were free throws, but if one player committed two consecutive fouls, she was escorted to the bench "to calm down" and stayed there until the other team scored.

Smith's physical education instructor at the time was Senda Berenson, a sister of Bernard Berenson, the renowned art historian. She had read about the new game of basketball a month after James Naismith had devised it for his students at the International YMCA Training School (now Springfield College) in nearby Springfield, Mass. and had traveled the 15 miles from Northampton to see it firsthand. According to Larry Fink, athletic director at Smith, "Senda found the game to be suitable for strong young ladies and introduced an adaptation of it to the phys ed classes at Smith in the fall of 1892."

When the first organized game between the freshmen and the sophomores took place the following spring, there was considerable fanfare, although no males were allowed to watch. Berenson forbade men to enter the gym because of the players' immodest garb. It was just as well. The game got off to an unfortunate start when Miss Mann of the sophomore class slipped during the tip-off, fell and dislocated her shoulder. Things slowed down a little after that.

OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES
Politics has been called the world's most bewildering sport, and 8-year-old Adrian Higgins of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts would probably agree. Having seen the movie Gandhi with his parents, the young athlete—he's a hockey center and soccer forward—was disturbed by scenes that showed the murderous conflict between Moslems and Hindus after India won its independence in 1947. He couldn't comprehend why such violence was able to run on. "I don't understand," he said. "Why didn't they get a referee?"

THERE THEY GO AQAIN

Pembroke (N.C.) State's baseball team continues to hear its own drummer. You may recall the story that last year during a game with North Carolina-Charlotte (SCORECARD, March 29, 1982), Pembroke Coach Harold Ellen took his team off the field with the score 8-8 after nine innings because, he explained, the school cafeteria was about to close, and if his players didn't get there in time, they wouldn't get any supper.

A couple of weeks ago Pembroke was playing Princeton at home as part of a doubleheader in which Princeton, on a tour of the South, took on St. Andrews Presbyterian in the first game and Pembroke in the second. Both games were scheduled to go seven innings. Princeton beat St. Andrews 6-3 in the opener and was winning the nightcap 4-0 in the sixth when Pembroke rallied to tie it up. An inning later, with the score still 4-4, the game was called on account of darkness, even though Pembroke's field has lights. It was explained that Coach Ellen's team was allowed to have the lights turned on only for night games, "important games," such as those with fellow members of the Carolinas Conference. Take that, Princeton.

Gary Spitler, Pembroke's sports information director, says ruefully, "The minute we called the game I knew people were going to say, 'There they go again.' "

A FOUL IDEA

The minor league Continental Basketball Association, which likes to try new ideas, said it would experiment this season with a sudden-death overtime: The first team to score three points in overtime would win (SCORECARD, May 31, 1982). The league felt this would not only benefit TV, which likes games that fit neatly into predetermined time slots, but also would generate added excitement as teams tried to decide whether to attempt two-point or three-point shots.