It happens every time. You can set your watch by it. Programmed into the women's basketball team is a self-destruct mechanism which goes into effect every time the squad begins to take control of a game.

They're down by ten, but refuse to give up. They battle back--a couple of quick jumpers, a rebound or two, and they're back within a point, and then...Cut! Time to blow it. They get lazy, stop hustling, and presto, they're down by then.

That has been the story of the hoopsters so far--a season of 'almosts' and 'if onlys.' Saturday night's 66-59 loss to New Hampshire was no exception. The hoopsters, now 1-5, are digging themselves quite a hole, and it gets deeper with each loss.

Ironically, Harvard's performance against the undefeated Wildcats was perhaps its best to date--much better than the ten-point victory over Holy Cross last week.

The Crimson countered New Hampshire's obviously superior passing and shooting with scrappiness and heart, and almost pulled off a victory. Almost. Nearly. A bit redundant, perhaps. We all know the line about horseshoes and hand grenades--almost just doesn't count in basketball.

When New Hampshire jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead, a rout seemed in the works. But the cagers fought back to within a basket, 24-22, midway through the first half. Almost. Whoops, now it's 36-23. But Harvard again refused to give up, and battled back to a halftime deficit of 38-31.

Crimson center Elaine Holpuch kept her team in the game. She dominated the boards with eight rebounds in the first half, and chipped in 12 of the Crimson's 23 first-half points. Holpuch had a game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds on the day, by far her best performance to date.

But No Cheese

After a brief surge at the start of the second half which brought Harvard to within two, it became a cat-and-mouse chase game, with New Hampshire always that elusive step ahead.

In the first half it was Holpuch, in the late going it was Nancy Boutilier. Three key jump shots (her only points in the game) in the last five minutes of play kept Harvard in the running.

Although they closed the gap to two several times in the last few minutes, the hoopsters could never even the score. Each time Harvard made a bid, the Wildcats dug in with textbook ball control. Martha Morrison, who frustrated Crimson defenders all night with beautiful passing and 16 points of her own, countered Boutillier's jump shots and kept the game out of Harvard's reach.

Despite the loss and the poor record, Boutilier insists the team is not depressed. "We're getting better each time we play. We're getting much more consistent, and the forwards and guards are really starting to work together."

There is still time for the Crimson to turn things around. The squad has played only one Ivy game so far, a loss to Penn last weekend, so the Crimson is not out of that race by a long shot. Those almosts just have to transform into victories.