B.C. Nips Women Hoopsters, 42-40; Cagers' Season Record Drops to 1-13

These days, watching the Harvard women's basketball team is not an uplifting experience. In fact, it's becoming downright depressing.

Last night the squad absorbed its ninth straight loss, and its record plummeted to a horrendous 1-13 mark. And this time, the loss was at the hands of the previously 3-9 Boston College Eagles, 42-40.

Leading by seven points midway through the second half, Harvard's offense sputtered and allowed B.C. to snag its fourth win of the year.

After an extremely sluggish opening 14 minutes--when the Crimson put only six points on the board--Harvard came to life, playing solid defense and pumping in enough buckets to rise from a 14-6 deficit and leave the court at halftime trailing only 18-14.

Harvard opened the second half by outscoring the Eagles, 17-6, with junior Frenesa Hall netting eight of her team high 11 points. At that time, Harvard's offense was performing at a level which it had not displayed all year. But the cagers' chronic inconsistency--largely responsible for their abysmal season record--plagued them in the late going. A five-minute Crimson scoring drought allowed B.C. to tie the game at 36 with 42 remaining.

During the next four minutes, neither the Crimson nor the Eagles were able to take advantage of the other's offensive impotence to nail down the win. So when B.C. hoopsters Jane Haubrich and Kerry Murphy each looped in a bucket with less than a minute to go--putting their team in the lead, 42-38--the Crimson did not have enough time to dump in two tying baskets. Freshman forward Wendy Joseph pocketed a two-pointer with nine seconds remaining, but Harvard coach Carole Kleinfelder had depleted her allocated timeouts for the game, and the Eagles simply ran out the clock.

Commenting on the last-minute B.C. victory, assistant coach Beth Wheatley said, "In the last three minutes we couldn't generate. It just got down to the last few minutes, and if you don't dig you lose. BC dug harder than we did."

Despite fragmented moments of capable and tenacious basketball, the Crimson lacked vital fundamental skills throughout the game. Freshman Andrea Mainelli dished off the only Harvard assist of the entire game, and the team is shooting at a sobering 35-per-cent field goal ratio.

"The people who can shoot for us don't work to get the ball," Kleinfelder said after the game, and she added that her team lacks a player who is able to generate offense by getting the ball off to an outside shooter.

"Defensively, we're fine...we did a nice job," Kleinfelder commented. Throughout the game, Harvard had no difficulty forcing many turnovers. But for the most part, Harvard didn't capitalize and ended up turning the ball over more than the Eagles did. The contest saw the Crimson commit 30 turnovers, resulting from traveling penalties, double dribbling, offensive fouls and erratic and sloppy passing execution.

And as one player commented after the loss, "It's tough to keep morale high when you're 1-13."

THE NOTEBOOK: The women's varsity basketball team may be floundering, but its junior varsity counterpart is flying high. Currently, the j.v. squad boasts an 8-2 record...Last night's contest was the final game before the hoopsters break for exams. The cagers will try to start anew when they take on Williams January 31...Ivy competition begins with a February 3 game against Dartmouth.