Cagers Tumble Again; Potent Big Green Attack Dominates 77-57 Contest

The women's basketball team needed to win last night's contest against Dartmouth to get back on the track toward a successful season. They didn't.

Unsympathetic to the Crimson cause, the Big Green shoved the cagers into a ditch with a 77-57 walloping in Hanover.

The one-two punch of Green Monsters Gail Koziara and Amy Nelson under the boards simply overwhelmed a Harvard squad that has triumphed in only two of its ten encounters. Koziara, an all-Ivy sophomore center, netted a game-high 26 points while leading all rebounders with 20. She glided at will through the lane, leaving Crimson center Elaine Holpuch for most of the evening.

Nelson, another sophomore, added 13 points and grabbed 14 rebounds from the other low post.

Green Machine

When Nelson and Koziara were not embarassing Harvard inside, sharp-shooting freshman guard Ann Deacon took over from the perimeter. Deacon swished several jumpers from beyond 25 feet on her way to a 21-point total.

At the other end of the floor, the youthful Big Green performed zone magic, stifling Harvard's efforts to get the ball inside to Holpuch and forward Karen Smith.

Forced to settle for jump shots, most of the hoopsters lost their cool and converted on only 32 per cent of their field goal attempts.

As she has in the past few games, freshman guard Nancy Boutillier tried to take over as the Crimson leader. With little assistance from her comrades, she hit for a team-high 12 points and displayed surprising composure when faced with the cement wall Dartmouth defense.

The player Harvard needs most, co-captain Caryn Curry, remained on the bench, nursing a sprained ankle. Curry was injured during the opening minutes of the team's losing effort against Manhattanville on December 15.

Without Curry and without an inside attack, coach Carole Kleinfelder began to get a little desperate. Down 45-22 at the half, Kleinfelder sent her troops out for the final 20 minutes with instructions to press for dear life.

Topsy-Turvy

Once Deacon and fellow guard Linda DeRenzo, Dartmouth's other all-Ivy player, caught on, however, the helter-skelter Harvard coverage collapsed.

Kleinfelder must regroup and reevaluate before upcoming home battles against Keene State, Williams and Bentley.

She said last week that she plans to "switch a few people around," adding that some J.V. players may get a shot at proving themselves on the varsity.