For the second year in a row, the Harvard women's basketball team has lost to the cellar team in the Ivies just past the halfway point of the season while in the midst of a title race. Last time it was in Providence against 0-9 Brown, this year it was at Lavietes against 1-8 Yale.

And unlike last year, when Penn and Dartmouth were falling to second-tier Ivy teams with the same frequency as Harvard (9-13, 6-3 Ivy), the first-place Quakers (17-5, 9-0) have been finding a way to win every week.

These Harvard losses to last-place teams just happen too often.

"Yale's a team that's desperate for a win, so they walk on the floor, they have no pressure, nothing to lose," said Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith following the loss. "We feel we're in the race for the title. That added pressure may have shown up in tonight's game."

The same thing happened to Harvard when it lost to Columbia at Lavietes towards the end of last season. Columbia's victory was such a crowning achievement to that program that a shot of the post-game scoreboard--HARVARD 56, VISITOR 62--appeared in its media guide.

These bottom-of-the-barrel teams don't have to worry about winning all their games. They can take a night off, lose badly, then play their hearts out the next day.

For the record, Yale was destroyed 82-63 by Dartmouth on Friday night.

Helene Schutrumpf, who burned Harvard for 20 points on Saturday to lead the Elis, played just 16 minutes of the Dartmouth game. Against Harvard she was rested enough to play 30.