WORCESTER, Mass.--Consolation wins never provide the feeling their names indicate. Just ask the Harvard women's basketball team.

Harvard (3-1) earned a weekend split to bring home a third-place finish in the third annual ECAC Holiday Festival Invitational Tournament at Holy Cross's Hart Recreational Center. Harvard dropped its first-round contest to Maryland (3-2) on Saturday, 81-61, but recovered for a 68-54 victory over Mount St. Mary's (2-2) in yesterday's consolation game.

In the midst of Harvard's roller coaster weekend, co-captain Allison Feaster became the school's all-time scoring leader, running her career points total to 1,614. The mark had previously been held by Tammy Butler '95 (1,605 points).

Despite the win and the fact that Maryland is a strong ACC team, the Crimson played its worst basketball of the short season on offense. Both games were marred by dismal shooting performances from Harvard.

The Crimson hit a season-low 31.3 percent of its shots against the Terps on Saturday and converted on just 34 percent of its field goals against the Mounts. Harvard's 26 first-half points yesterday were also a season-low.

The opposing defenses were not the reason for the Crimson's poor shooting. Harvard had clear looks at the basket and took good shots in both contests, but its shots simply did not fall.

"We could not have been worse offensively on both days," Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. "Right now, we're not the shooting team that I'm used to having, but we will hit those [shots]."

In spite of its shooting woes, Harvard turned in two fine defensive performances over the weekend. It was defense that kept the Crimson alive in both games and allowed Harvard to come away with a victory.

Harvard abandoned its usual man-to-man defense against Maryland and played a zone against the athletic Terps. The strategy was effective overall in containing Maryland and in helping the Crimson outrebound the Terps by three.

"My defense is playing very well. I like what we're doing," Delaney-Smith said.

Maryland led by as many as 10 points in the first half before a couple of three-pointers by junior Suzie Miller and sophomore Courtney Egelhoff cut the Terps' lead to 34-31 with one minute left in the period. The momentum quickly swung back to Maryland's side, however, as Terps guard Tiffany Brown answered with a trey of her own.

On Harvard's next possession, a costly turnover led to a layup at the other end by Maryland co-captain Sonia Chase. In the span of 40 seconds, a one-possession game turned into an eight-point Maryland lead at halftime.

The Terps capped the 9-0 run at the start of the second half with two quick buckets to extend their lead to 12 points. The Crimson would get no closer than The Crimson would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way.

Ultimately, it was an excellent shooting performance by Maryland coupled with uncharacteristically poor shooting and costly mistakes by Harvard that did the Crimson in. The Terps hit over 49 percent of their shots, and 23 Harvard turnovers led to 26 Maryland points.

"I can't tolerate that [poor] decision-making, but it's early in the season, so it was respectable," Delaney-Smith said. "We were horrible, and we didn't get blown out by a very good team. That's an indication that we're okay."

Chase finished the game with 25 points and six steals for the Terps, while her teammate and co-captain Stephanie Cross recorded 21 points and 12 rebounds. Cross was awarded the tournament's Most Valuable Player award following Maryland's 82-74 victory over host Holy Cross in the championship game.