Women Best SMU

"We didn't play well--we were bumping into each other, our rebounding was poor, and we didn't go back door when they left it wide open," said a disappointed coach Carole Kleinfelder after her Crimson quintet had merely annihilated visiting Southeastern Massachusetts University (SMU) with a 34-19 second-half assault at the IAB.

The exacting second-year mentor was more concerned with Harvard's lethargic, turnover-plagued play in the nrst half of yesterday's 65-50 victory. Thanks to the heady 12-point opening stanza performance by All-Ivy guard Carry Curry, Harvard managed to scramble back from a seven-point deficit for a 31-31 knot at the half.

If Kleinfelder gave her squad an intermission tongue-lashing, it had a delayed effect. SMU guard Mary "Downtown" Hill swooshed home three unanswered long-range missiles before All-Ivy standout Wendy Carle answered the rainmakers with a nifty maneuver underneath. The sophomore forward finished with 14 points, several coming on patented hook-layup drives to the bucket.

Curry oozed finesse with a stylish fall-away jumper to complement a pair of Carle baskets as Harvard began a 19-1 tear that erased a 41-35 deficit and concurrently gave the hosts a commanding 54-42 bulge. The flashy playmaker finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

Enigmatic center Leslie Greis did the bulk of the damage, pumping in eight points during this stretch enroute to a game-high 18 points. The bespectacled sophomore center, who alternates between flashes of brilliant, aggressive play underneath and spectatorly passivity, opened her binge with a layup off a bullet-pass from freshman guard Sue Field.

Harvard's other major skyscraper, Sue Aboucher, quietly collected 10 points and nine rebounds against a physical SMU front-line.

But at the end, coach Kleinfelder still shrugged her shoulders.

"We did everything we had to in order to win, but little else," she said, proving once again that Harvard is that rare school where winning isn't everything.