After last year's disappointing 7-19 (4-10 Ivies) record, Harvard women's basketball coach Kathy Delaney Smith made a Namath-like guarantee that the Crimson, so used to success, would never be that bad again. After all, Delaney Smith is the winningest men's or women's basketball coach in Harvard history, and last year's record was the worst in 10 years.

This year, the team got off to a promising 4-1 start, turning the coach into somewhat of a prophet. And despite Tuesday night's disappointing 86-74 loss to Rhode Island, which dropped the squad's record to 5-3, Harvard looks like it has recaptured some of the old magic.

After all, Harvard's main weaknesses last year were its softness inside and its tendency to turn the ball over. This year, freshmen sensation Allison Feaster has made a Barley-esque impact, joining with Ivy Player of the Year candidate senior captain Tammy Butler to make Harvard's underbelly one of its strengths; the Crimson has outrebounded its opponents this year 49.8 to 39.

And the Crimson's starting backcourt of junior Elizabeth "Buzz" Proudfit and sophomore Jessica Gelman is not only a year older, but a year wiser. They both can handle the rock and their dexterity seems to be contagious: Harvard has only committed 240 turnovers in eight games while its opponents have committed 258.

All this good news, however, was tempered by Tuesday night's loss. The Crimson succumbed to a quick second half start by the Lady Rams. Harvard had taken a 39-36 lead into the locker room, but Rhode Island peeled off a 15-0 run to start the second period to turn a three-point deficit into a commanding 12-point lead.

Harvard did not score until the 16:41 mark, when Feaster made a layup. The Lady Rams kept the lead around 10 until Harvard junior Amy Reinhard drained a three-pointer with 10:21 to go to cut the lead to seven, 63-56.

But the Lady Rams scored the next five points, and the Crimson would not get the lead to less than 10 again until only 2:02 was left in the game. At that point, though, the Crimson had to revert to an intentional fouling fest and Rhode Island made 10 free throws in the last 1:35 to run away with the game.

"At the start of the second half, we just lost all the momentum," Proudfit said. "They like to run, and they just ran a bunch of fast breaks. It felt like a helpless situation."

After the game, playes searched for explanations. This was the Crimson's fourth-straight road game, and some admitted to being fatigued. Others, however, emphasized the strength of Rhode Island, a member of the tough Atlantic 10 Conference.

"This definitely would have been a big win for us," Proudfit said. "They are a good team in a tough conference. We had a lot of tough road games this month."

Feaster, who led Harvard with 23 points and collected eight rebounds, was a bit more critical of her team's effort.

"We had a lack of intensity and communication in the second half," she said. "We didn't respond to their running, and we had a lead despite playing badly in the first half."

Feaster is averaging a whopping 23.4 points per game and 13.4 rebounds per game.

Butler, who is averaging 18.2 points and 9.9 boards per game, scored 12 points and wiped nine bounds of the glass in the game. Gelman added 14 points and three steals to the effort and Proudfit chipped in eights points and three steals.

The team travels to Florida December 17 to play in the South Florida Tournament, along with Deleware, North Texas and South Florida. The squad will then have only one more game before opening its Ivy schedule against Penn January 6.

While it will be a tough row to hoe, the squad has already battled its share of heavies this season. Its preIvy schedule included such solid teams as LaSalle, Providence, and Bucknell.

"The rest will be important to gain momentum," Proudfit said. "We had a really challenging pre-Ivy schedule. Last year, we lost a lot of close games. But this year, our schedule made us a tougher team. We learned to suck it up."

'At the start of the second half, we lost all momentum.' Elizabeth Proudfit Harvard  86 URI  74