The Cornell women's basketball team is having a tough year. Even its players are being thrown back in its face.

When Cornell's Suzy Onze hit a running half-court shot as the first half buzzer sounded to put the Big Red up 42-41 at halftime, she might have thought that her team would ride her miracle shot to a strong second half and a win.

But while Cornell had the prayer, Harvard had the answer. Inspired by Onze's shot, the Crimson rode a strong second half to a 97-75 win Saturday night at Ithaca, N.Y.

"That three-pointer really fired us up," freshman Amy Reinhard said.

The win completed Harvard's (15-9 overall, 10-3 Ivy) first road sweep of the year. Cornell fell to 10-16 overall and 4-10 in the Ivy League.

After a rough first half, Harvard shot 20-for-32 (62.5 percent) from the floor in the second half while pressuring Cornell into a miserable 12-for-42 (28.6 percent) performance.

The Crimson led for most of the first half but suffered many defensive lapses--the Big Red shot 17-for-33 (15.5 percent) from the floor.

Harvard's all-time leading scorer and Co-Captain Erin Mather got into foul trouble--picking up her fourth early in the second half--but her teammates took up the slack.

Sophomore Tammy Butler scored a team-high 26 points on 10-for-14 shooting. Co-Captain Debbie Flandermeyer notched a double-double with 22 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

The Big Red's Keri Farley had a game-high 28 points and also picked up 11 rebounds, while Marie Watson scored 20 points.

This weekend's road trip figured to be tough on Harvard after its overtime loss to Brown last weekend, which eliminated the Crimson from the Ivy title race. As a further hardship, the Crimson had to first travel seven hours to Columbia before a midnight run through the New York wilderness to Ithaca.

"It was a moral victory," Butler said. "It was our longest road trip, and we showed that we were a strong team despite our early losses. In the two victories [Columbia and Cornell]--we played with our hearts."

The Crimson will end its season Tuesday night at Dartmouth. HARVARD, 97-75 at Ithaca N.Y. Harvard  41  56  --  97 Cornell  42  33  --  75

HARVARD: Butler 10-14 6-7 16, Frey 5-8 5-5 17, Flandermeyer 8-12 6-8 22, Proudfit 5-13 3-4 14, Maher 4-9 1-2 11, Reinhard 2-3 0-0 4, Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Cronk 0-2 0-2 0, Phillips 0-1 0-0 0, Crisera 1-1 0-2 2, McNamer 0-0 0-0 0, Gettleman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 35-63 21-28 97.

CORNELL: Blount 1-1 3-4 5, Watson 9-21 2-4 20, Ames 1-2 1-2 3, Beaudry 0-1 0-0 0, Caracciolo 0-3 0-2 0, Farley 11-22 6-10 28, LaMacchia 0-1 0-0 0, Hunnewell 0-3 2-2 2, Onze 1-2 0-0 3, Harrison 5-15 2-7 12, Henriksen 0-0 0-2 0, Spunaugle 1-4 0-0 0. Totals 29-75 14-26 75.