Women Cagers Lose to Tigers, 64-46

Time had run out as a Princeton freshman, Justine Koeppen, stood alone at the foul line. Two teams and 30 spectators looked on. She bounced the ball once...twice. She took a deep breath, shot...and missed. No sighs emerged from the Princeton bench. No cheers sounded from the Harvard bench or the Briggs bleachers.

Actually no one, except, perhaps Koeppen's parents, cared much by then. The books would still record a 64-46 Princeton victory over the Harvard women's basketball team.

Last night's game, which drops Harvard's record to 5-12 (1-6 in the Ivies), typifies what the Crimson has done consistently throughout the seaon: fallen behind, fallen farther behind, and then, at last, started a come-back only to find that time had run out.

Down 21-13 near the end of the first half. Harvard gave up eight straight and entered the locker-room on the short end of a 29-13 game. Only a few minutes into the second half, Princeton led by 26, 51-25. But the Crimson, showing signs of life, narrowed the lead to 12 thanks to a few Princeton turnovers and Harvard fast breaks.

Only a few minutes remained though. A panicky Harvard squad fouled too often, and never managed to gain control of the game.

The Crimson offered few excuses for their performance, and most of the squad was too dispirited for comment.

"I don't think any of us are sure what happened," Lori Stewart '86 said, noting the Crimson's recurrent problem. "We always dig ourselves into a hole. We can cut down a 30 point lead but we never seem to have enough time to pull it out."

Princeton dominated under both boards all game, as their three 6-ft.-plus forwards combined for 39 points and 23 rebounds.

With life difficult under the boards. Harvard resorted to wild outside shooting, hitting only 29 percent (18 percent in the first half) and missing 54 baskets throughout the game.

Senior center Elaine Holpuch scored 11 points and recorded 14 rebounds, making her the only Crimson player to enter double-digits. The Tigers held Harvard's top scorer Ann Scannell to six points, while Harvard's 29 remaining points were scattered among nine other players.

THE NOTEBOOK: After last night's outing, Holpuch is only 2 baskets shy of her 1000th Crimson point. Look for her to break the 1000 mark when Harvard meets UPenn tonight at Briggs Athletic Center.