MANCHESTER, N.H.--Very few teams with only two wins to their credit could find anything encouraging about absorbing a 16th loss.

But in the wake of a humiliating 78-45 loss to Yale Saturday afternoon, the Harvard women's basketball team took on a 13-2 St. Anselm's squad last night and turned in one of its finest performances of the season in a 55-49 defeat.

"It's a disappointment, but we played a back of a lot better than we did against Yale," co-captain Pat Home said after the game.

The cagers opened the first period with some tough defensive play, but Rachel Jackson, the Hawk's sharpshooting center, led her squad to an early 6-0 lead only 90 seconds into the game.

At that point, Home and sophomore Sarah Albee took control of the St. Anselm's backboard, grabbing nine rebounds, and the Crimson offense, led by Albee and freshman guard Andy Mainelli, quickly tied the contest.

Setting a deliberately slow pace at their end of the court, the cagers held a 16-14 advantage after the first 10 minutes. But with seven minutes remaining in the half, the Crimson offense became overly cautious, and in the next three minutes, St. Anselm's scored nine unanswered points to go up, 27-20.

A Lisa Leithauser under-the-basket lay-up ended the drought at 3:58. And just before the buzzer sounded. Kate Martin took a full-court pass from Home and dished off a beautiful underhand assist to Mainelli, who hit a last second lay-up to send the Crimson into the locker room down by only five, 29-24.

In the Driver's Seat

When the cagers first returned to the floor, they had little trouble penetrating the Hawk zone, and within three minutes, Harvard had seized the lead, 30-29.

Midway through the stanza, all offensive activity ceased for a full four minutes, as both squads played intensely physical defense. The Crimson maintained its advantage, but when St. Anselm's finally rediscovered its attack. Harvard continued to employ a stall offense, putting the ball up only under pressure.

A paltry 21 percent shooting ratio in the second half--compared with 41 percent in the first--contributed to the cagers' downfall. But a whopping total of 21 personal fouls cost them the victory, as the Hawks hit 10 straight free throws in the closing minutes to finally overtake the Crimson.

THE NOTEBOOK: Last night's contest marked the squad's 13th consecutive away game since it beat Penn on December 5. The team returns to the IAB this Saturday after-noon for a crucial Ivy match-up against Princeton.