Women's Basketball Tops Mount St. Mary's

The Harvard women's basketball team extended its winning streak to three games Saturday afternoon in Emmitsburg, Maryland with a dominant 78-62 victory over Northeast Conference power Mount St. Mary's, who had been riding a three-game win streak of its own.

It was not supposed to be that easy for the Crimson (6-3).

The Mountaineers (4-3) featured a strong freshman class on top of nine returning players from a team that went 20-6 last year. But the Crimson completely outplayed them from start to finish.

"We came into this game knowing that this would be one of the most disciplined, athletic, talented teams we would play all year," senior guard Courtney Egelhoff said. "We were prepared to play well."

It was a good win for a team that has already beaten Ohio State out of the Big Ten this season.

Regularly playing four freshman and four sophomores, Harvard appears capable of getting back to the level of the Allison Feaster '98 years.

After falling behind 3-0 to open the game, Harvard quickly got a lead and never let it go again. With the help of its strong presence in the paint, the Crimson shot 60.7 percent from the field in first half. On the other side, the Crimson zone held the Mountaineer shooting percentage to a meager 26.5. For the game, Harvard out-rebounded Mount St. Mary's, 47-29.

"We went in knowing they could play well," freshman center Sarah Johnson said. "We just kept the zone tight, and worked hard both halves."

After the Crimson built a 22-14 lead midway through the first half, the Mountaineers used an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 24-22, but the tough Harvard defense and the poor Mountaineer shooting allowed Harvard to take a 43-29 lead into the break.

The Crimson opened the second half with a 14-4 run to extend its lead, but star Mountaineer guard Kia Williams turned up her game a notch.

"Kia really heated it up at the end," Egelhoff said. "We expected her to get her points. She got hot in the second half."

Williams, who scored 22 points, managed to lead Mount St. Mary's on a late comeback, cutting the Crimson lead to 12 with 5:45 left to play. The lead was down to 10 with 1:06 left, but sophomore guard Jenn Monti and freshman guard Bree Kelley combined to go 8-of-8 from the free-throw line to silence any chance of a comeback.

"We weren't ready to give in, so we turned up the intensity in the end," Sarah Johnson said.

Sarah Johnson led the team in scoring for the second straight game, following her 18-point performance against Rhode Island on Wednesday with a 16-point game against the Mountaineers.

"I'm finally settling in," Sarah Johnson said. "I'm really comfortable now. I feel I'm clicking with the rest of the team."

Captain Laela Sturdy and Monti both posted double-doubles for the game. Sturdy, who was 16th in the country in three-point percentage going into the weekend, racked up 11 points, including a 3-of-3 performance from the arc, and added 10 rebounds.

Monti contributed 12 points and a career-high 11 assists. Her performance highlighted the team's successful effort to improve its passing and reduce its turnovers.

"We had a lot of meetings about coming together as a team, and playing together as a unit," Egelhoff said.

The Crimson had 23 team assists as to just 13 for the Mountaineers.

Egelhoff just missed a double-double with nine points and a career-high 11 rebounds.

"Honestly, I think I just got lucky," Egelhoff said. "The ball bounced to my area a lot."

Also scoring in double figures for the Crimson was junior center Melissa Johnson, who had 11 points for the game.

The Harvard defense was tough to beat all day. The Crimson made it especially difficult for Mountaineer freshman Lauren Kokotajlo, who shot a mere 1-of-11 from the field, including 0-of-4 from the three-point line, despite being the team's top three-point shooter going into the game.

"Our coaches told us to move out, and cover all the shooters," Egelhoff said.

The Crimson defense held Williams to just 8-of-19 shooting and Vera Feldbusch, the team's second-leading scorer, to just 4-of-10.

With the victory, the Crimson got a big confidence boost for next Saturday's game against Northeastern and the Ivy League schedule beginning in January.

"Our coaches and everyone were really pleased with the way we played," Sarah Johnson said. "We know we can't take Northeastern lightly. We'll need to play like we did on Saturday."