ITHACA, N.Y.--If the fat lady has not sung for the Harvard women's basketball team's season, she is certainly warming the pipes.

Harvard (8-12, 5-4 Ivy) split a pair of games versus New York foes this weekend, handily defeating Columbia (4-17, 1-9) 75-62 on Friday night before stumbling against Cornell (9-13, 3-7) 81-74 on Saturday. HARVARD  75 COLUMBIA  62 HARVARD  74 CORNELL  81

The Crimson's loss to the Big Red may have been the death blow in its run for a fourth consecutive Ivy League title, as first-place Princeton (13-8, 8-1) and Dartmouth (15-6, 8-1) now lead Harvard by three games.

"We're not giving up the ship," said Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith. "This just makes it that much more difficult. A three-way tie with four losses each--that would be a hoot."

Senior center Rose Janowski continued her strong play of late, tallying 27 points, 17 rebounds, seven assists and two blocks on the weekend. Freshman guard Katie Gates also turned in good performances with 23 points and 13 rebounds in the two games.

Cornell 81, Harvard 74

On the second night of a road doubleheader, a flu-ridden Harvard team did not have enough steam to keep up with Cornell for 40 minutes and dropped an 81-74 decision at Newman Arena.

The Crimson looked sharp in the first half, shooting 43 percent from the floor--including 7-of-16 three-pointers--to take a 39-33 lead into halftime.

Harvard scored the first three points of the second half on a lay-up by junior guard Courtney Egelhoff and a free throw by Janowski to open a nine-point lead. But four minutes into the period, Harvard went cold on offense and relaxed on defense, and Cornell took full advantage.

Beginning with a short jumper by sophomore forward Jennifer Linker at the 16:00 mark, the Big Red exploded on a 24-5 run to open a 10-point lead that it sat on until the final buzzer.

"[Cornell] shot very well," Delaney-Smith said. "We didn't get any second shots, and that's where I thought there was no heart and no effort."

Cornell was capitalizing on all of Harvard's miscues, scorching the Crimson on perimeter jumpers and scoring in transition. Freshman point guard Breean Walas was the catalyst.

Walas scored eight points and assisted on another four baskets during Cornell's victory-sealing surge. The rookie finished with an impressive stat line: 22 points, seven rebounds, nine assists and no turnovers. Cornell shot 9-of-17 from three-point range--including Walas's 3-of-3--and scored 23 points off Harvard turnovers.

The Crimson's hot-shooting hands, meanwhile, must have caught frostbite in Ithaca's frigid climate. Harvard shot just 29.4 percent in the second half and 20 percent from beyond the arc.

"We definitely went cold on offense," said co-captain Suzie Miller, "But I don't see that as why we lost the game. We lost the game on the defensive end. We missed key rebounds, and we didn't adjust to their [three-point shooting]."