W. Basketball faces Central Connecticut State

The Harvard women's basketball team looks to right its course against Central Connecticut State University, taking on the Blue Devils at Lavietas Pavilion at 7 p.m. tonight.

The Crimson (1-4, 0-0 Ivy) dropped its last game at Fairfield, shooting poorly from the field in a 92-73 loss.

The Blue Devils (1-2) are coming off their only win of the season, a 71- 68 victory over Niagara at the Cornell Tournament on Saturday. Senior guard Nikki Flocco scored 22 points in the win, after being shutdown in the previous game by host Cornell.

While Harvard ran through the individual match-ups today, the Crimson wants to focus on putting together a consistent effort without worrying too greatly about specific players or Blue Devil tendencies.

Consistency has been lacking thus far according to senior guard Lisa Kowal.

"We've had moments where we played great, and some moments where we weren't so great," Kowal said. "We want to put together 40 strong minutes of basketball."

The Crimson has had many bright spots this season, but has yet to take advantage of some impressive individual performances.

Sophomore center Sarah Johnson, coming off the bench against Fairfield last Saturday, had a strong game, finishing with 14 points. At one stretch during her 15 minutes of action, Johnson hit five baskets in a row to help carry Harvard.

Freshman forward Hanah Peljto continued her precocious play, netting 18 points to lead the Crimson against the Stags. She also grabbed nine rebounds in the game, and leads the team in both scoring and boards.

Such spurts of energy will not carry Harvard to an Ivy League title, however, as conference upstart Cornell already boasts a 5-2 record in non-Ivy games.

"We can all have great games at any point, I think," Kowal said. "We need to do it as a team, because we really feed off of each other."

The Crimson has a great chance to turn around its season against the Blue Devils, and looks to do so before its first Ivy League contest on January 6th against Dartmouth.

Central Connecticut has performed poorly in the weak NEC and boasts only the fifth best record heading into conference play.

Harvard is not alone in lamenting a slow start. The two- time defending Ivy League champion Big Green is 0-4 in non-conference play, and is doubtlessly thankful, like the Crimson, that its poor play has come so early in the year.

Despite the young season, the Crimson still feels it should be doing the little things that veteran teams do down the stretch.

"We need to focus on the basics," Kowal added. "If we play our game--box out, rebound, play solid defense--I think we're a totally different team than what we've seen."

Harvard looks to do the big things, as well, including bringing up its shooting percentage and keeping calm in the face of the Blue Devil's pressure defense.

"We're going to try to keeps our heads," said Kowal.