Yale Bangs W. Cagers Crimson Falters, 71-64

Harvard women's basketball Coach Kathy Delaney Smith still can't figure out what happened.

After dominating Yale for the first 30 minutes of Saturday's game, Harvard crumbled late in the second half and fell, 71-64, in front of 200 spectators at Briggs Athletic Center.

The loss ended the Crimson's 10-game home winning streak.

"I felt we outplayed them," Delaney Smith said. "I just wish I knew what went wrong."

The Crimson (now 8-10 overall, 3-4 Ivy League) held a nine-point advantage at the half and pulled ahead, 41-31, with 16:25 left in the game. Then the Elis went on a shooting streak and outscored Harvard, 17-7, over the next six minutes to tie the game, 48-48.

"We did a nice job shutting their shooters down early," Delaney Smith said. "But some of Yale's players really heated up in the second half."

The Elis' Randi Meberg, who leads the team in scoring with a 18.4 points-per-game average, scored all of her team-high 15 points in the second half, while Mary Spolyar netted 10 of her 14 points during the final period.

After the lead bounced back and forth for several minutes, the score stood tied, 61-61, with 2:05 remaining.

But then the Crimson fell apart.

Meberg drove to the hoop to put the Elis up by two, and the Crimson failed to answer with a basket on its. ensuing possession. After drawing a foul on therebound, junior Nancy Cibotti missed the front endof a one-and-one and Yale regained possession.

Two quick baskets by Spolyar gave the Elissix-point advantage with 29 second remaining, andwhen the Crimson turned the ball over on each ofits next two possessions, it was forced to foul.

The Elis, who went 23-for-31 from the line onthe night, connected on three of five attempts todrive its lead up to nine points.

"Yale got the breaks and capitalized on them,"junior Barb Keffer said, "We didn't capitalize onthe opportunities we got."

Keffer, who led Harvard in scoring with 16points, registered four assists and three steals.Sophomore Sarah Duncan--the Crimson's top scorerin Friday's win over Brown--netted 15 pointsdespite playing only 25 minutes due to foultrouble.

"Sarah is important to us on the floor,"Delaney Smith said. "She's not only a strongplayer, but also a leader. Having her on the benchhurt us."

With Duncan absent from the floor, Harvard'sinside game--which had been effective against theshorter Eli team in the early minutes of play--wasweakened, and the Crimson lost its edge on theboards.

THE NOTEBOOK: Duncan shot 75 percentfrom the floor for the second straight night.After going 12-for-16 against Brown the previousnight, Duncan followed up with 6-for-8 shootingagainst the Elis...As a team, Harvard shot 39percent from the field, one of its lowestpercentages this season...Yale outscored Harvard,45-29, in the second half