Kleinfelder blamed herself for the shortcoming. "I didn't really have a sense of what each player could do," she said. "I thought they were better, individually, than they really were. "She said that not until late in the season did she begin to pattern the offense around each player's respective strengths.

The late-season offense was better, but it will need more work if it is to produce points against the powerful Division I teams that Harvard will face next year.

Big 'D'

Defensively, the team was solid; that is again a reflection on the coach. Kleinfelder firmly believes that defense wins basketball games, and the defense she developed did win many games.

Kleinfelder said she would prefer to play man-to-man against every team because it "gets the players into the game." But she said her team was "not strong enough to do that," and consequently Harvard played a zone defense for most of the season.

Looking ahead to next year, the team will move up to Division I. Against the tougher competition of that top bracket, Kleinfelder said, the team may "not have as good a record, but they will play better basketball."

She said the team's goal was to be competitive in the Ivy League, and they have achieved that goal this year. But Kleinfelder added the team is now looking to win the Ivy title within the next two years.

"If we can do that," she said, "we will fulfill all our aspirations, for I doubt if Harvard will ever be competitive at the national level."

She pointed to the Princeton men's basketball team as an example of the Ivy League's inability to be nationally competitive in basketball. "They have a fine program there," she said, "and each year they come close to national success, but they never quite get there."

To some, this asessment may seem defeatist, but in fact, it is a reality. A winning women's basketball team at Harvard is now also a reality.