In fine post-Valentine's Day form, the Harvard womens hoopsters left Cornell pale, drubbing the Big Red 74-47 last night.

The victory, boosting the Crimson's season record to 10-10 overall and 3-3 in the Ivies, was the team's third in a row.

The first half began somewhat listlessly for both squads. While the Crimson offense retained control of the ball, it couldn't find the basket. Meanwhile, the Cornell team was too busy fouling Harvard players to generate an offense of its own.

Through the Hopp

Accurate Cornell shooting from 20 feet out and impeccable Crimson foul shooting kept the game close until the hoopsters warmed in the period's last five minutes and piled up an 11-point lead by halftime.

Circular

The hapless Big Red simply could not recover from their sluggish first half and gaped while the hoopsters ran circles around them, grabbed a total of 20 steals, and riddled the Cornell zone defense with bullet-like drives to the basket.

Harvard came out hot and never stopped. After five minutes of play the cagers rocketed to 50-24, after ten minutes, the score was 60-29.

Crimson coach Carol Klienfelder transformed her squad's lethargic zone defense of the first half to a full-court man-to-man press in the second half of the game while the obedient hoopsters picked up the pace and their shooting as well. "We really dug in the second half" freshman guard Pat Horne explained. "The switch to a man-to-man press got us moving around better," she added.

Last night's victory was above all a team effort. Klienfelder untilized the entire bench, and everyone on the cager squad turned in a good performance.

Another bright spot of the night was the return of freshman guard Franessa Hall, absent for most of the season with mononucleosis. "I'm back" said a jubilant Hall, "back to stay!" Hall said she looks forward to playing in the upcoming Ivy Tournament in two weeks, when she'll be at full strength again.