Saturday night at Dartmouth's Leede Arena, the Harvard women's basketball team played "the best game we've played defensively the entire season," according to senior co-captain Catherine Crisera.

The Crimson fell, 57-44, and dropped its record to 2-11 overall. In the Ivy League, Harvard stands 0-3.

Whoa, missy--what did you say? A 13-point loss and it's a great defensive effort?

That's right, buckaroo. In a truly outstanding defensive improvement, the Crimson held the Big Green to only 57 points. On average, Harvard has been giving up 81 tallies to its opponents.

Harvard also seized 56 offensive and defensive boards for the night. Junior Tammy Butler nabbed 17 for the Crimson. Harvard usually averages only 41 team rebounds per game.

The obvious question is this: Why, then, did the Crimson lose its seventh straight contest? Why didn't these statistics translate into a win?

Harvard Head Coach Kathy Delaney Smith summed it up with four telling words: "The shooting was horrendous."

In the first half, Harvard shot a heart-wrenching 19 percent (5-26) from the field. In a mild recovery during the second half, the Crimson was 11-for-38 (29 percent). Senior co-captain Cara Frey led the team with 11 points.

"We had a lot of good shots that just didn't go down," Delaney Smith said.

The team's two leading scorers, Butler and sophomore point guard Elizabeth Proudfit, were both held to single digits, and as Delaney Smith put it, "When your two best shooters are having an off night..."

Butler currently leads the Ivy League in scoring with 18 points per game, but only tallied eight this weekend. The forward starter shot a meager--by Butlerian standards, anyway--23 percent from the field.

Arguably the best point guard in the league, Proudfit averages 13.8 points per contest. At Dartmouth, she only tallied six points and was 3-17 for the night (0-4 for treys).

Harvard averages 65.5 points per game but failed to reach par by over 20 points.

But as everyone this side of the Charles knows, this weekend was no time for a joyride to Hanover, NH.

"How ludicrous is it to say to relax the week before exams at Harvard?" Delaney Smith said.

Still, the Crimson refuses to blame a lackluster shooting performance on reading period anxiety and exam week hell.

In fact, Harvard had a productive week of intense practice that followed a disappointing league opening weekend.

The team focused on improving rebounding and defensive skills, and in this respect, the week proved to be a success.

Harvard is pleased that it has finally launched the powerful defensive and rebounding elements its game lacked--a problem that placed the team eighth in the Ancient Eight in scoring defense. Honing the team's shooting skills is a minor feat in comparison.

"We've definitely made defense and rebounding the focus in practice the past week or two," Crisera said, "But shooting won't be anything for us to worry about.

"Putting the ball into the basket is the easiest thing to fix with practice," the forward starter said.

To be sure, Harvard has plenty of time for shooting drills. The Crimson has about two weeks until its next non-league contest (January 29 at Central Connecticut State), and three weeks until it resumes Ivy play at Yale on February 4.

When Harvard finds a way to balance its shooting capabilities with its newly found defensive intensity, the team could re-emerge as a power in the league. Remember this: Harvard has 11 games left on its Ivy schedule.

"Exams have traditionally interfered with our rhythm," Delaney Smith said. "But this year, it could be our time to re-group and re-focus."

DARTMOUTH, 57-44 at Hanover, N.H. Dartmouth  27  30  -  57 Harvard  19  25  -  44

DARTMOUTH: Stamp 5-10 1-2 11; Jones 0-10 0-0 0; Annis 4-10 1-3 9; Pariseau 1-4 0-0 2; Webeck 1-11 0-0 2; Samuelson 0-2 0-0 0; Gilmore 5-6 3-5 13; Marple 1-3 0-0 2; Lawrence 5-12 1-5 11; Stucker 3-5 1-2 7. Totals 25-73 7-17 57.

HARVARD: Butler 3-13 2-4 8; Reinhard 2-5 0-0 5; Davis 0-1 2-4 2; Phillips 0-5 0-0 0; Gelman 2-8 2-2 6; Proudfit 3-13 0-0 6; Frey 3-9 2-2 11; Crisera 3-9 0-2 6; Gettelman 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 16-64 8-14 44.