Over the last couple of years, the Harvard women's basketball team has found itself playing second fiddle-second fiddle to other teams in the Ivy League and second fiddle to its own legacy.

This year's season shows that, next year, first chair in the Ivy season symphony may be Harvard's for the taking, a feat that would break Harvard's back-to-back run of silver medals.

Penn dominated the Ivy season this season, going 14-0 in the conference and 22-6 overall as Quaker senior forward Diana Caramanico broke the Ivy League career scoring record previously held by Harvard star Allison Feaster `98. Harvard, which played Penn close in the two teams' second meeting, took second in the league with a 9-5 conference record, 12-15 overall. As with all second-place finishes, this year's season is a dress rehearsal for next year.

Caramanico is graduating, and taking Penn's dominance with her. Dartmouth, another traditional rival, has slumped in recent years, although sophomore forward Katherine Hanks, former Ivy League Rookie of the Year, will return to lead the Big Green next year.

But while the league is changing around it, the Harvard team is changing internally, too.

With the graduation of this year's Harvard seniors, the on-court institutional memory of Harvard's glory years departs with them. Seniors

Lisa Kowal, co-captain Kristen Boike, and Carrie Larkworthy are the only remaining players to have played and practiced with now-legend Feaster, a guard/forward for the WNBA's Charlotte Sting. The fourth senior, co-captain and North Carolina transfer Melissa Johnson, played against Feaster in the NCAA tournament when Johnson was a Tar Heel.

Next year's team, helmed by a strong class of seniors, including point guard Jenn Monti and small forward Katie Gates, will still skew young and deep. Anchored by the freshman frontcourt tandem of Hana Peljto and Tricia Tubridy, who came into their own this season, the team has all the weapons to claim the Ivy title.