Stingy Defense Lifts W. Hoops Over Princeton

The Harvard women’s basketball team solidified its hopes to repeat as Ivy Champion on Friday night, trouncing Princeton 78-42 at Lavietes Pavilion.

“We haven’t had a win like this in years,” said Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith. “It sent a message to the rest of the league.”

The Crimson (11-4, 3-0 Ivy) remains undefeated in the Ivies, after pinning the Tigers (6-10, 1-1) with their first conference loss. While Harvard tallied 78 points and had three scorers register over 15 points, the story of the evening was the Crimson defense.

Anchored by veritable thieves—junior point guard Bev Moore and sophomore center Reka Cserny, who swiped five steals each—the defense allowed just 13 second-half points. Harvard held Princeton scoreless for the first four minutes of the second frame.

The Crimson reaped the fruits of its stingy defense as it opened the half on a 10-0 run. With less than 17 minutes remaining in the game, Harvard had changed a comfortable halftime advantage into a would-be blowout, leading 51-29.

“That spurt coming out of halftime was key,” Delaney-Smith said. “They kind of hung around on us in the first half, but we came out and took it to them.”

Moore orchestrated the second half surge with suffocating defense and pinpoint accuracy on shooting. The junior point guard had a career night, setting personal bests with 16 points (on 6-for-7 shooting) and five steals.

“Bev played phenomenally tonight,” Delaney-Smith said. “Maybe starting her has given her the confidence to go to the next level.”

Moore also sees her game improving as a starter.

“I am becoming more and more comfortable with starting and being the floor leader as the point guard out there,” Moore said.

While Moore provided the spark for Friday night’s blowout, the familiar tandem of Cserny and forward junior Hana Peljto supplied the firepower. Peljto corralled seven boards to go along with her game-high eighteen points, despite shooting under 40 percent from the field. “Hana’s shot was a little off the mark at times,” Delaney-Smith said.

If Peljto’s game faltered, Cserny was there to pick up the slack. Notching 17 points and three rebounds, there were moments when she dominated the game. With 3:24 left in the first half, Cserny simply took the ball from Princeton point guard Allison Cahill and proceeded down the court for an easy layup.

“I just tried to focus,” Cserny said. “I tried to be more aggressive on offense, but I still have to work on this part of my game a lot.”

Delaney-Smith was not so modest in issuing praise for the sophomore.

“Reka was immense for us tonight,” Delaney-Smith said. “Her game was huge.”

Although Harvard was led by a trifecta of veterans, it received contributions from the entire squad, with each player seeing at least 10 minutes of action and scoring a field goal.

Junior forward Tricia Tubridy just missed a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds. The Crimson backcourt also made notable contributions, as sophomore Rochelle Bell, freshman Jessica Holsey and sophomore Katie Murphy all had solid games.

“Everybody on the team got into it tonight and there was no drop-off,” Delaney-Smith said. “We have a bench full of weapons that I don’t hesitate to put out there.”

After proving that its arsenal is potent from top to bottom, Delaney-Smith cautioned the team about being overconfident after its big win, commenting on the “competitiveness” of the conference.

“In the Ivy League there are so many close games,” Delaney-Smith said. “So a lot of teams think we’re beatable. Hopefully tonight will scare them.”

—Staff writer Sean W. Coughlin can be reached coughl@fas.harvard.edu.