Harvard women's basketball team continued its drive for the Ivy crown this weekend, sweeping Cornell and Columbia.

Not that it was all that easy. Harvard  105 Cornell  99 Harvard  83 Columbia  48

On Friday, the Crimson (19-6 overall, 11-2 Ivy) averted what would have been a devastating upset, squeaking by a spirited Big Red team 105-99 in overtime.

Down 46-37 at the half, Harvard, on the strength of a 25-10 run, stormed back to take a 64-57 lead with 11 minutes to play. Cornell, led by senior forward Keri Farley's Ivy League record 41-point effort, slowly trimmed Harvard's edge to two, 76-74 with 3:30 remaining.

One minute later, Farley put the Big Red ahead 77-76 converting two free throws after drawing a foul from freshman forward Allison Feaster (20 points 20 rebounds).

Harvard responded, however, when captain Tammy Butler hit a lay-up to retake the lead. Butler tied a career high with 33 points on 14-20 shooting.

Farley, not to be outdone, nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key to give Cornell the edge, 80-78. On the Crimson's subsequent possession Butler put back a Feaster miss to tie the game with 54 seconds to play, forcing a Big Red timeout.

You can probably guess what happened next.

Farley rose to the occasion again, hitting a pull-up jumper from 12 feet, giving Cornell an 82-80 lead with 29 seconds remaining in regulation.

Sophomore guard Jessica Gelman answered 14 seconds later, draining a jumper from 15 feet and drawing the foul. Gelman, one of top foul shooters on team; sank the free-throw and the lead changed hands again, this time 83-82, Harvard.

With two seconds left on the clock, Cornell forward Sarah Russell drew a foul from junior Liz Gettelman and stepped to the foul line with opportunity to put Harvard away.

Russell made the first but missed the second, sending the game into OT knotted at 83-83. Overtime, however, belonged to the Crimson.

Junior guard Elizabeth Proudfit opened the extra frame by canning a trey from the corner. Feaster converted a lay-up off a steal, Proudfit put back a miss and Feaster scored again, drilling a 16-footer.

The Crimson outscored the Big Red 17-6 over the first four minutes of overtime to take a 100-89 lead. Jessica Gelman's clutch foul-shooting down the stretch sealed the Harvard victory; the sophomore guard went 7-9 from the charity stripe over the last 1:30, cinching the 105-99 win.

Harvard had a much easier time dispatching Columbia, routing the Lions 83-48 on Saturday night in the Big Apple.

The Crimson never trailed in the ball game and by halftime had established a twenty-five point lead, 43-18. For the period Columbia shot only 26.9 percent from the field, converting a pathetic 7-26 shots.

The second half was more of the same for both teams; Harvard continued to build its lead. Harvard led by more than 20 points for the most of the final period and eventually won by 35, 83-48.

Eleven players scored for the Crimson, and none of the starters played for more than 24 minutes. Harvard was led by Feaster, who netted 15, followed by Katy Davis and Gettelman, who scored 14 and 13 points respectively.

HARVARD, 105-99 (OT) at Newman Arena Harvard  48  42  22  --  105 Cornell  51  43  16  --  99

HARVARD: Reinhard 2-70-0 6; Feaster 7-20 6-9 20; Butler 14-20 5-10 33; Gelman 3-8 12-14 18; Proudfit 6-12 0-1 14; Davis 2-3 0-0 4; Grossman 1-2 0-0 3; Brandt 1-4 2-2 2; Gettelman 1-5 0-0 2. TOTALS 37-81 25-36 105.

CORNELL: Seymore 0-2 5-6 5; Farley 14-26 8-11 41; Jackson 1-6 0-0 2; English 3-5 8-11 14; Lamacchia 6-14 2-5 18; Maggi 0-1 0-0 0; Cordell 1-4 0-0 2; Ruck 3-6 2-3 8; McCloskey 2-4 2-2 6; Russell 1-1 1-2 3. TOTALS: 31-69 28-40 99.

HARVARD, 83-48 at Levien Gymnasium Harvard  43  40  --  83 Columbia  18  30  --  48

HARVARD: Reinhard 2-7 0-0 4; Feaster 5-6 5-7 15; Butler 4-8 1-2 9; Gelman 2-3 0-0 4; Proudfit 2-6 0-0 4; Davis 6-7 2-4 14; Gettelman 5-8 0-0 13, Brandt 3-4 0-0 7; Black 1-5 1-2 4; Grossman 0-1 0-0 0; James 2-4 0-0 6; Basil 0-1 0-0 0; Jablonski 1-4 0-0 3. TOTALS 33-64 9-15 83.

COLUMBIA: Holub 3-10 0-0 6; Ching 2-10 0-1 4; Schuneman 5-13 4-6 14; Cox 0-2 0-0 0; Nicusanti 8-21 3-4 22; Pappas 0-0 2-2 2. TOTALS: 18-56 9-13 48.