Women's basketball in the Ivy League can get complicated.

On Jan. 7, Harvard beat Dartmouth in the first league game of the year. Since then, Dartmouth has twice beaten Penn, who has twice beaten Harvard.

Dartmouth has also lost to Princeton, whom Harvard beat, but the Tigers beat Brown, who beat Harvard.

Oh yeah, and Penn lost to Columbia, who lost to both Dartmouth and Harvard.

Any questions?

Needless to say, parity has prevailed in Ivy League women's hoops this year. On any given weekend, even the league's cellar-dwellers have proven capable of humbling the conference's top contenders.

So far this season, all three teams currently at or near the top of the standings--Dartmouth (17-7, 9-2 Ivy), Penn (17-8, 8-3), and Harvard (15-8, 8-3)--have occupied the leader's spot at least once. Less than two weeks ago, the trio was tied for first place, but upset losses suffered by the Crimson and the Quakers gave the Big Green a one-game advantage.

Heading into this past weekend, a shake-up in the conference standings seemed imminent as first-place Dartmouth and second-place Harvard went on the road to face Penn, also in second place, and Princeton (4-7, 7-18), the defending Ivy League co-champion.