Sports in brief

Amaker to mentor men’s hoops

Former University of Michigan mentor Tommy Amaker was formally introduced as the head coach of the Crimson men’s basketball program at an April 13 press conference at the Murr Center. A starting point guard at Duke from 1983 to 1987, Amaker served as an assistant with his alma mater for nine seasons. In that span, the Blue Devils captured two consecutive NCAA titles and five Final Four appearances. Amaker brings a 177-138 career head coaching record to Cambridge, including a 109-83 ledger at Michigan and a 68-55 record at Seton Hall.

Women golfers capture Ivy tri-match

Junior Debbi Amanti shot a career-best round of 73 — a stroke ahead of teammate Ali Bode ’09 — to pace the Harvard women’s golf team to a first-place finish this past Saturday (April 14) against Dartmouth and Brown at Cape Cod Country Club in Hatchville, Mass. Round two, which was scheduled for Sunday (April 15), was canceled due to rain.

All told, six Crimson golfers took the top seven spots with sub-80 rounds to help Harvard to a team score of 309. Dartmouth, meanwhile, placed second with 322 to better Brown (334).

Harvard returns to action this weekend for the Ivy League championship in McAfee, N.J. A season ago, the women managed a program best second-place showing at the league champs.

Water polo sinks Queens, Utica

The Harvard women’s water polo team cruised to a 13-3 victory over Queens and a 13-1 win against host Utica on Saturday afternoon (April 14) to land the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Northern Division championships. Junior Melissa Mueller paced the Crimson with seven goals, five assists, and seven steals over the two contests.

The wins snap a two-game losing streak for the Crimson (8-9; 4-3 league), who will travel to Connecticut College this weekend (April 21-22) for the division champs.