When the Chicago Bulls captured the NBA Championship last season, the moment seemed almost anti-climactic.

Did anyone expect anything different?

Last night at Lavietes Pavilion that same feeling permeated the building. The Harvard women's basketball team clinched its second consecutive Ivy League crown and NCAA Tournament berth by dismantling Yale, 60-36. Harvard  60 Yale  36

Did anyone expect anything different?

Maybe Brown did. It was the Bears' defeat at the hands of Dartmouth, 90-78, which destroyed any sliver of hope they may have had to edge out the Crimson for the title.

Harvard (18-6, 12-0) is the second team in the nation to clinch a berth in the tournament after Stanford became the first to do so earlier this week. This is the fifth overall Ivy League Championship for the Crimson which has now won a record 24 consecutive Ivy League contests.

"Our defense was really, really good [last night]," Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. "I was very happy. But we have to play better offense."

The only surprise for Harvard fans last night was the slow pace of the game in the first half. The usually high-powered offensive attack of the Crimson was slow getting its engine started, and Harvard only led 25-13 at halftime.

That all changed at the onset of the second period. Harvard came out of the locker room, shifted into a higher gear and left the overwhelmed Elis sputtering in its wake.

"I said [to the team at halftime], "Your passes stink. Your decisions stink. So the good news is...you can only get better,'" Delaney-Smith said.

The Crimson used a full-court press to force Yale (10-15, 6-7) into six turnovers during the first seven minutes of the second half. Harvard went on an 18-5 run during this stretch and opened up a 25-point lead to end any doubts as to the outcome of the game.

Co-captain Jessica Gelman (19 points, four assists, four steals) started the onslaught when she found junior forward Allison Feaster underneath the hoop for an easy two points.

One minute later, Feaster decided to continue the generosity. She slashed through the lane and dumped a pass off to junior Alison Seanor (two points, four assists, two blocks) for another easy bucket.

Keeping with the trend of easy layups, co-captain Kelly Black took a nicely-placed feed from Gelman and kissed it off the glass for two more points.

On Harvard's next possession, Feaster found Gelman on the left wing. The point guard calmly squared herself to the basket and knocked down the jumper to continue the hot shooting by the Crimson.

"Our second half was obviously a much better performance," Gelman said. "That's the team we've been for the past two months."