The Harvard women's basketball team has not had an ideal beginning to this 2000-01 season.

Saturday's 79-66 loss to Bucknell (7-1) dropped the Crimson to 1-6 this season. Though the Ivy League season has not yet begun, there is some nervousness brewing in the women's locker room.

In preparation for Bucknell, Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith forced her team to stay late at Lavietes Pavilion after losing to Central Connecticut St., 70-67, on Wednesday.

"You cannot get easier shots than we got," Delaney-Smith said after the loss to the Blue Devils, adding, "if we keep playing like we did today, we will be in for a very long season."

The preparation was not enough to overcome a powerful Bucknell team that handed the Crimson its third straight loss.

But, that might be looking at the glass as half empty. On the other side of the coin, Harvard played Bucknell down to the wire, in a game much closer than the final score indicates.

"The effort and the defense were there, but our shots weren't falling," said freshman forward Tricia Tubridy. "Bucknell is a very good team, and they capitalized on our mistakes."

Bucknell jumped out to an 18-8 lead to begin the game, but Harvard slowly crept back into the contest, cutting the lead to 25-21 with 4:57 remaining in the first half.