W. Hoops Remains Perfect in the Ivy

The Harvard women’s basketball team sailed to an easy 90-62 victory over Columbia on Friday night before narrowly escaping rougher waters in its win over Cornell on Saturday.

The Crimson (16-4, 8-0 Ivy) survived a second-half rally by the Big Red (7-14, 1-7) to remain perfect in the Ivy League. The 77-71 victory over Cornell also extended the team’s winning streak to ten games.

With six games left to play in the regular season, Harvard is now two games ahead of second-place Brown in the Ivy race. While the Crimson does not face the Bears until its final game of the season, it will travel to Penn and Princeton this weekend for two critical league matchups.

Harvard 77, Cornell 71

With just 2:12 remaining in the second half, Cornell freshman Sarah Brown coolly stepped behind the arc and buried a three-pointer, erasing the last of a 17-point halftime deficit.

“Their comeback was a combination of their great shooting and us having a few defensive lapses and missing shots that we usually make,” junior forward Hana Peljto said.

With the game now tied at 69, the Crimson turned to its two most consistent players. Sophomore center Reka Cserny and Peljto scored Harvard’s next six points to extend the Crimson lead to 75-71 with 14 seconds to play.

Cserny then came up with a key block on the Big Red’s next possession and junior guard Bev Moore hit two free throws to seal the win for Harvard and complete her perfect night. Moore was 4-for-4 from the line and 2-for-2 from the field for the game.

“We showed poise in finishing out the game, even with their great effort to come back,” Peljto said.

The first half did not offer any indication that the game would result in such a dramatic finish. Harvard jumped out to an early 11-2 advantage and went into the half leading 42-25.

The Crimson built its lead with solid shooting complimented by tough defense. Harvard shot over 65 percent from the field and held Cornell to 10-for-30 shooting (1-for-8 from three-point range) in the opening frame.

Peljto scored 12 of her team-high 25 in the first half and it seemed as if the Crimson was on its way to another dominating Ivy win.

“We focused on being patient offensively and Hana was hitting good shots,” Moore said.

But in the second half, Harvard faced an energized and more aggressive opponent. Big Red junior Karen Force opened the half with two of her career-high five three-pointers to cut the Crimson lead to 11 and Cornell slowly closed that gap throughout the remainder of the half.

“Cornell is a team that is always ready to play us and one that never goes away regardless of the score,” Peljto said.

It was only after Cserny’s key defensive play on Force and Moore’s subsequent free throws with seconds remaining that Harvard could feel secure.

Cserny had 17 points on the night while Force led all scorers with 27.

Harvard 90, Columbia 62

Friday night against Columbia (10-11, 3-5), the Crimson went into halftime with a 39-29 lead and withstood an early second-half surge by the Lions to cruise a 28-point win.

Harvard jumped on top of Columbia early behind Peljto, who scored 18 of her team’s first 28 points as Harvard built an early lead. The reigning Ivy League Player of the Year eventually tied her career-high with 36 points against the Lions, earning Ivy Player of the Week honors for her efforts.

“I think what Columbia tried to do was spread out their defense to stop our outside shooting, and that opened up penetration and the inside game more,” Peljto said. “They also defended us in a man-to-man defense, which few teams have done for an entire game this year. We were able to run and execute our plays.”

Despite falling behind early, the Lions battled back behind Sue Altman. After a Peljto layup increased the Crimson advantage to 13 with just over seven minutes remaining, the transfer from Holy Cross scored ten of her team’s next 14 points to pull Columbia within ten at the half.

But after a steal and a layup in the first minute of the second half that cut Harvard’s lead to six, Altman was held scoreless until she connected on two free throws with just over ten minutes left to play in the game.

By then, the Crimson had widened the gap to over 20 points and was on its way to victory.

“[Altman] was the key to their offense,” Moore said. “So we focused on communicating so we could stop her in transition. In the second half we decided to face-guard her in order to limit the number of touches she could get.”

Peljto recorded her eighth double-double of the season, pulling down ten rebounds in the win. Cserny and junior guard Dirkje Dunham each had 13 points for the Crimson while junior forward Tricia Tubridy grabbed ten boards.

Next weekend, Harvard takes on Penn and Princeton on the road. Both teams are coming off losses to Brown and victories over Yale this weekend.

While the Crimson already has a win over each team this season, it is taking nothing for granted as it prepares for the contests.

“We realize that we are the team to beat now, and that everyone will bring their best game against us,” Peljto said. “We have to be ready to play every night.”

—Staff writer Kathryn J. Hodel can be reached at hodel@fas.harvard.edu.