Harvard head coach Kathy Delaney-Smith had to resort to some creative semantics, on the floor after the Crimson blew hot and cold in a 91-76 loss to archrival Dartmouth on Saturday night, to describe what separated her talented but losing team from past championship contenders in Cambridge.

“You know, new-young,” she said. “New-young, is all we are.”

The Big Green (8-3, 1-0 Ivy) gave 85 percent of its playing time to five starters—four of them upperclassmen—including senior Jeannie Cullen, who racked up seven threes and 35 points in the effort. The experienced squad shot 50 percent from the floor, including 52.4 percent from beyond the arc, because it coolly exploited holes in the Harvard defense and employed textbook screens with characteristic self-assurance.

“They’re fun to watch,” Delaney-Smith said. “They’re not fun to play, but they’re fun to watch because they connect so well. And they’re smart.”

Only when Harvard rolled off a late 30-8 run, which turned a 70-40 dismantling into a 78-70 thriller with two minutes remaining, did defensive pressure appear to phase the Dartmouth attackers.

The Big Green locked down on defense and pulled away in the end, sinking its last 10 free throws. For most of the game, the team displayed the offensive firepower that won it a share of the Ivy League title last season and a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“How do you teach that?” Delaney-Smith said, answering, “You have them play together for four years, which is what I hope happens to my freshman class, actually.”

While Dartmouth relied on its experience beyond the perimeter, Harvard (4-10, 0-1 Ivy) divided its minutes equally between nine players, including five rookies.

Co-captain Jessica Holsey entered to cheers with 13:42 left in the first half. It was exactly one month to the day after she missed the first of eight games with a broken bone in her shooting hand. She played well, taking a significant lead in the comeback and scoring 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting.

“It was my shooting hand, so that’s kind of difficult,” Holsey said. “It’s kind of tight.

“Hopefully at the end of [reading period] I’ll be back to normal.”

In the end, the effort belonged to the Harvard rookies. When the team struggled, as when the Big Green jumped out to a 21-8 lead by the 13-minute mark, hitting four of its first five three-point attempts, the Crimson’s inexperience on defense showed.

“I wish it didn’t, but I’m not surprised it did,” Delaney-Smith said.

Freshman Emily Tay blossomed into one of the team’s leading scorers over the winter break. But when Dartmouth’s scouting report had it keying on the 5’8 point guard from Los Angeles, she struggled, shooting zero-of-four in the first half.

Freshman forward Katie Rollins also suffered from defensive lapses in the first half. She and 6’7 freshman Emma Moretzsohn largely failed to contain Dartmouth’s low-post offense, which had been weakened by the loss of star center Elise Morrison early in the year with a season-ending injury. Harvard missed defensive stalwart Christiana Lackner, a junior who was injured in practice on Friday.

Dartmouth forward Sydney Scott—a “blue collar worker,” said Delaney-Smith—finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds.

For the crowd of 1342, the atmosphere was charged with the anticipation of yet another classic between the two schools.

“It was definitely nerves in the first half,” Rollins said. “Coach told us that in the first five minutes, you could definitely see we were nervous.”

“I was really nervous,” she admitted.

If the inexperience and nerves of the younger players punished the Crimson early on, it was their superlative talent that nearly brought about the impossible comeback.

Delaney-Smith has often called her freshmen class the best of her distinguished career. Tay and Rollins finished extremely strong, scoring 13 straight points during the second-half comeback.

The 6’3 Rollins, who missed the first part of the year with an injury, finished with 14 points in just 17 minutes, drawing on a polished repertoire of moves under the goal.

“She’s going to be a force in the league through her four years,” Delaney-Smith said.

Tay, who has also earned well-deserved raves for her athleticism and creativity with the ball, finished with 10 points.

In addition, Delaney-Smith singled out the efforts of freshman forward Niki Finelli, who, like Rollins and 6’3 freshman Liz Tindal, missed the early season with injuries. She scored eight points, including two three-pointers, and played the entirety of the crucial final stretch because of her quickness on defense.

“What they need is just experience,” Delaney-Smith said. “They need to play together a little bit more.

“And there’s no quick way to get that.”

As Dartmouth showed on Saturday night, it certainly takes time.

—Staff writer Alex McPhillips can be reached at rmcphill@fas.harvard.edu.