If the Harvard women's basketball team had any lingering doubts about its ability to compete in the Ivy League, it quashed them this past weekend.

In home games against Cornell and Columbia, Harvard (7-11, 4-1 Ivy) overcame moments of insecurity to win against two scrappy teams. On Friday, the Crimson topped Cornell (9-10, 2-4) behind a career-high 21 points from freshman forward Tricia Tubridy. The next night, Harvard beat Columbia (5-13, 3-3) in a slow, foul-plagued game by hitting 35 out of 40 free throws--26-for-27 in the second half--and by effectively shutting down Columbia star Shawnee Pickney.

"This is what we were waiting for all December," Tubridy said. "We knew we were this good and it was a matter of time before we started showing it on the court."

Harvard enters Friday's contest against league-leading Penn having won six of its last seven games, including its last three contests. Following a 1-11 start, the Crimson now appears capable of challenging the Quakers, who are riding an 11-game winning streak behind the play of defending Ivy Player of the Year Diana Caramanico. Like Harvard, Penn got off to a slow start, going 1-5 in its first six games.

"Penn statistically is connecting well," said Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith. "They play five players who are connecting. Our job is to control Caramanico."

Harvard 78, Columbia 53

Columbia senior forward Shawnee Pickney entered the weekend as the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week, averaging 14.8 points and 6.8 rebounds on the season. She played like a star the night before when she scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds in a win over Dartmouth in which she surpassed the 1,000 point plateau for her career.

Against Harvard the next night, however Pickney misfired shots from all areas, got frustrated, pouted and, finally, sat on the bench with a towel over her head. Harvard's defense held her to 11 points on remarkably awful 3-for-27 shooting (11 percent), including 1-for-11 from beyond the arc.