W. Hoops Handles UNH in Season's First Win

Despite a pair of offensive dry spells early in the game and midway through the second half, Harvard found just enough scoring from freshman forward Hana Peljto and sophomore center Kate Ides to earn a 54-45 victory against New Hampshire last night at Lavietes.

The Crimson (1-3) made the most of its ugly 35-percent shooting on the day by holding the Wildcats (2-2) to just 18-percent from the floor in the second half.

"We're a poor offensive team right now," Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. "But I'm happy with our defensive growth. I think we can win ball games on defense. But we need to learn how to run our offense. The offense will get better, I know it will."

Harvard led by as many as 13 points but scored just six in the middle 10 minutes of the second half to allow New Hampshire to cut the Crimson lead to 40-38 with 5:30 left.

Peljto--who led the Crimson with 17 points and 15 rebounds--then drained a clutch three to give Harvard some margin for error.

Heidi Plencner, the Wildcat's short sharp-shooting guard, was fouled from behind the arc with 1:06 left and drained all three shots to cut the deficit, to 48-45.

Needing a basket to secure the win, Peljto delivered again. With the shot clock winding down, junior forward Lindsay Ryba, stationed at the top of the arc, found Peljto down low for the game-icing layup with 29 seconds remaining.

"It felt great [to get our first win], because we had been struggling with both defense and offense," Peljto said. "We put it together well enough this game. I think it was a really great win."

The Crimson's most impressive basketball came immediately before and after the first half, when Harvard used a 16-2 run to break the game open.

Ides got the run going with a layup and a pair of free throws. She scored 10 of her 13 points in the minutes before the end of the half.

Freshman guard Jennifer Lee helped ignite the Crimson transition game with some quick movement up the floor and a long pass to Katie Gates, who drained a shot to put Harvard up 22-17.

Even when the Crimson missed its shots during the scoring run, the ball bounced its way.

At one point freshman guard Bree Kelley missed a shot and Pejlto mishandled the rebound, but the ball popped right into the hands of Ides for an easy score.

At the outset of the second half, the Harvard offense was all Peljto in the transition game. She scored the period's first six points as Harvard went ahead 32-19.

"If we run we're unstoppable," Peljto said. "We should keep doing it, but without any turnovers."

According to their coach, Harvard's two-leading scorers on the day are capable of much more.

"Ides' offense will come eventually and Hana's a better scorer than we're seeing right now," Delaney-Smith said. "Hana and Kate have to work on becoming better passers. They're tight right now."

The Crimson shot a much-improved 43 percent from the floor in the second half, making up for its anemic offense early on.

"We knew we shouldn't get down on ourselves, because it's happened to us before where we started off slow," Peljto said. "We just got it together, and I'm glad we didn't break down when we started off slow in the beginning."

Over the course of the 16-2 run before and after the intermission, the Wildcats failed to get anything accomplished against the Harvard defense. Their only two points during the stretch came after Gates was called for a foul as time expired in the first half.

Otherwise Gates played superb defense. She provided the tight coverage and the blocked shots from the forward position that Harvard sorely missed when she was out of action in the second half of last season.

Plencner led all Wildcat scorers with 15 points. Harvard was careful not to let her get too many open looks like she saw when she single-handedly ignited a New Hampshire comeback against Harvard last season.

Plencner hit two threes early on to give New Hampshire an early 11-3 lead, but the Crimson limited her to 1-of-7 shooting from behind the arc for the rest of the game.

Harvard still had plenty of respect for her, however, as it aggressively fouled her behind the arc twice on the night.

New Hampshire's press started to give the Crimson trouble in the middle of the second half and its total turnover tally ballooned to 25, but Harvard's defense was equally solid down the stretch.

Harvard will be back in action at Fairfield on Saturday.