Women Top Ithaca, 62-51, To Win Cornell Help Title

Using anti-aircraft weapons with names like Elaine, Caryn and Wendy, the Harvard women's basketball team shot the Ithaca Bombers out of they sky Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y., 62-51, and returned to base with the Cornell Tournament championship securely in their grasp.

Elaine Holpuch, the freshman center who is just starting to assert what could be a dominating presence in Ivy League basketball, led the Crimson attack with a game-high 14 points and ten rebounds.

"We're starting to put everything together a litte more, but we still have to play with more intensity," the Shorewood, III, native said yesterday.

Junior captain Caryn Curry turned in another strong performance at the guard-forward position, tallying 12 points.

"We go off to a very slow start, but our defense held us together in the first half," coach Carole Kleinfelder said yesterday.

"But in the second half, we got things together," she added, as the hoopsters turned a 31-20 halftime advantage into a 49-31 bulge at the third quarter's close.

The third-quarter assault was largely due to the efforts of Curry and junior forward Wendy Carle, who notched 11 points in the game.

Movin'

"Caryn and Wendy were definitely starting to make things move out there in the second half," Kleinfelder said.

The Harvard cagers really needed a shot in the arm in the second half as their shooting percentages were more like their shoe sizes in the early going. Even with the second half spurt, the Crimson hit only a rickety 26 per cent from the floor.

In the final quarter, the Bombers outscored the hoopsters, 20-13, but a Crimson squad made up mostly of substitutes held on for the 62-51 triumph.

Harvard reached the finals of the tournament by defeating Cornell, 70-33, in the semifinal Friday night. Ithaca downed Barnard to gain the other slot.

"Ithaca was better than Cornell, but I don't think either were tough this weekend," Curry said.

Harvard will put its 2-3 record on the line Wednesday against Springfield in Springfield, Mass. In Their final encounter before the Christmas break, they will confront East Connecticut State at the IAB Friday.