Despite a pair of offensive dry spells early in the game and midway through the second half, Harvard found just enough scoring from freshman forward Hana Peljto and sophomore center Kate Ides to earn a 54-45 victory against New Hampshire last night at Lavietes.

The Crimson (1-3) made the most of its ugly 35-percent shooting on the day by holding the Wildcats (2-2) to just 18-percent from the floor in the second half.

"We're a poor offensive team right now," Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. "But I'm happy with our defensive growth. I think we can win ball games on defense. But we need to learn how to run our offense. The offense will get better, I know it will."

Harvard led by as many as 13 points but scored just six in the middle 10 minutes of the second half to allow New Hampshire to cut the Crimson lead to 40-38 with 5:30 left.

Peljto--who led the Crimson with 17 points and 15 rebounds--then drained a clutch three to give Harvard some margin for error.

Heidi Plencner, the Wildcat's short sharp-shooting guard, was fouled from behind the arc with 1:06 left and drained all three shots to cut the deficit, to 48-45.

Needing a basket to secure the win, Peljto delivered again. With the shot clock winding down, junior forward Lindsay Ryba, stationed at the top of the arc, found Peljto down low for the game-icing layup with 29 seconds remaining.

"It felt great [to get our first win], because we had been struggling with both defense and offense," Peljto said. "We put it together well enough this game. I think it was a really great win."