W. Cagers Fall, 71-54; Hunt for Title Ends

It's over.

The Harvard women's basketball team will not repeat as Ivy League champions. The Crimson (15-10 overall, 9-4 Ivy) succumbed to Princeton, 71-54, Saturday night at Jadwin Gymnasium in Princeton, N.J., eliminating the possibility of a tie with Dartmouth for the Ivy crown.

The Big Green (11-2 Ivy) downed Pennsylvania, 87-75, Saturday at the Palestra in Philadelphia to clinch first place.

"I don't know where it starts, and I don't know where it ends," Co-Captain Beth Chandler said.

Harvard's season has slipped away. A solid 81-67 victory over Dartmouth opened its Ivy League schedule, but slowly, inexorably, the Crimson fell to Brown twice, Yale and now Princeton.

The players cannot find explanations for the shift in their season and for the shift in their match-up against the Tigers.

"I don't know what happened," forward Jen Mazanec said. "I just wanted to play hard."

In the two teams' first meeting, the Crimson tripped up the Tigers, 65-60.

"It's the second time around and teams know what to do," Chandler said. "Princeton did what they had to do."

The Crimson faltered in the first half, failing to box out on defense and allowing the Tigers to control the tempo.

In the second half, Harvard pulled to within five, but it could not close the gap. The Crimson came up with too little, too late, and Princeton regained its momentum to take the game.

So, on Tuesday night, the Crimson battles Dartmouth, not for the Ivy title, but for pride.

"We still have one game left," Chandler said. "It would be nice to beat Dartmouth at home and twice in the same season. It would be saying something."

THE NOTEBOOK: Dartmouth claimed a share of the 1988 Ivy League title last year in Briggs Cage on March 8. The Big Green's 72-65 win denied the Crimson the unidisputed crown. Then-freshman Nicole Hager pumped in 17 points in that game, but Harvard lost at the foul line, converting only 16 of 32.