Women Cagers Tripped Up By Princeton, 66-62

PRINCETON--Harvard women's basketball Tri-Captain Sharon Hayes tripped and fell during the first half of last night's game here at Jadwin Gym against Princeton.

With Harvard's leading scorer nursing a sprained ankle on the bench for the rest of the game, the Crimson (18-4 overall, 9-1 Ivy) promptly followed Hayes' lead, stumbling to the Tigers, 66-62.

While the contest marked the end of a pair of streaks for Harvard--the end of the Crimson's seven game winning streak and 13-game Ivy game streak--it also continued an intimidating mark for the Tigers. Fourth-year Princeton Coach Joan Kowalik has never lost an Ivy League game at home.

"We played a great game, but the way we played defensively was the key," Kowalik said. "We played defenses which were disruptive to [Harvard's] fastbreak style of play."

Princeton (17-5 8-2) pulled to within one game of the first-place Crimson and hosts Dartmouth tonight in a battle between the Ivy League's two second-place teams. Sophomore Sandi Bittler's outside shooting led the Tiger offense, while a tenacious trapping defense limited the Crimson to only 35 percent shooting from the field. Bittler, the Ivy League's leading scorer, pumped in 25 points despite hounding pressure by Harvard Tri-Captain Barb Keffer and freshman guard Beth Wambach.

Keffer matched Bittler with 27 points of her own, but even that couldn't keep the Crimson on its feet.

"Everyone played hesitantly tonight," said Keffer, "and you have to take it to them when they're in the zone."

With the combination of Hayes' injury and poor outside shooting, the Crimson was forced to rely solely on Keffer for offensive production--an unusual occurrence for the normally balanced Crimson attack.

"Offensively we were in trouble," Harvard's Kathy Delaney Smith said. "There was just too much pressure on Keffer."

With Princeton up by two and 25 seconds remaining, Co-Captain Chris Adkins unloaded a 25-foot fallaway prayer which bounced off the backborad and into the net to seal the Tiger victory.

Harvard will try to regain its footing tonight at Penn.