Harvard's women's basketball team broke out of its early-season slump with a vengeance yesterday by pounding Cornell, 70-33, and advancing to the finals against Ithaca in the Cornell Tournament in Ithaca, N.Y.

"We're on track, there's no question about that," Coach Carole Kleinfelder said yesterday of her team, which lost its first three contests of the season.

Captain Caryn Curry, the guard-forward dynamo, led the way with 18 points, but it was freshman center Elaine Holpuch who directed the discoloration of the Big Red, nabbing 13 rebounds and netting 11 points.

"Elaine played an outstanding game. Because she's starting to assert herself, that's making a big difference for us," Kleinfelder added.

The Crimson scurried to a 17-10 advantage in the first quarter, and a second quarter burst let the fans go home early, as Harvard gained a 34-15 half-time bulge.

Cornell faced more of the same in the second half. The stingy Crimson defense limited the Big Red to just eight points in the third quarter after yielding only five in the second.

Net Win

The hoopsters' opening losses to UMass, Bentley and the University of New Hampshire did not faze Kleinfelder, who said her team's break-out was only a matter of time. "All those teams we lost to are top teams, and the fact that we played them has made us a lot better," she said.

The Crimson face Ithaca, who defeated Barnard yesterday, in today's finals at 2 p.m.