Dartmouth Surprises W. Hoops

In a bout between two of the best players in the Ivy League, round one goes to Elise Morrison.

Dartmouth’s rookie center led the Big Green (6-6, 1-0 Ivy) with 32 points in a thrilling 93-88 overtime upset of Ivy favorite Harvard (6-6, 0-1) Saturday night in Lavietes Pavilion.

Co-captain Hana Peljto matched Morrison for most of the night, notching 28 points and 14 boards, but the Crimson still fell short, snapping its 26-game conference win streak in its Ivy opener.

Crimson junior center Reka Cserny led the Crimson with 30 points, including five three-pointers, in spite of missing all but five minutes of the first half due to foul trouble.

After the teams swapped the lead eight times, the Crimson seemed finally to have the game well in hand, as co-captain Tricia Tubridy knocked down two free throws to put Harvard up 80-77 with four seconds left in regulation.

But while those four seconds appeared inconsequential to the Crimson’s defense, it was just long enough for the scrappy Dartmouth squad. Big Green guard Angela Soriaga launched a desperation shot from 30 feet out at the buzzer that sank for the game-tying three points.

“That was a huge error on our part,” said Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith. “That was stupid. The game was over…it’s always hard, especially in your own house, to have someone hit a half-court shot to take it to overtime.”

The two teams continued to butt heads through the first two minutes of overtime, but a Morrison jumper over Peljto put Dartmouth up 86-85 with 2:54 to play. A minute later, Soriaga nailed a three to extend the Big Green lead to four, but senior point guard Bev Moore responded with a three-pointer to narrow the gap to one with 1:28 left.

Peljto let another shot fly from three-point land with 32 seconds remaining, but it bounced off the rim and Dartmouth came up with the rebound, forcing Harvard to foul for a chance at a final possession. The Crimson took a timeout before the free throws to plan a set that would give Moore a three-point shot on Harvard’s next possession. Big Green freshman Ashley Taylor sank her first free throw, increasing her team’s lead to 90-88, but the second was off-target and Peljto grabbed the rebound and passed to junior guard Rochelle Bell.

As Bell dribbled toward the Dartmouth defense, all was set for last-minute heroics as Moore was open just behind the three-point arc.

But Bell drove into the paint looking for her own shot and was halted by a Big Green double team before she got a shot off. The ball fell out of bounds, and the officials gave Dartmouth possession with 15 seconds remaining.

Though the Crimson regained possession by fouling, the Big Green did enough damage from the charity stripe to win 93-88.

“Well, I thought the out-of-bounds ball was ours,” Delaney-Smith said. “Bev was open, but Ro saw an opening so, that’s a read. I wasn’t really angry. I’m mad we lost.”

Dartmouth and Harvard were evenly matched for the entire game, though Morrison powered the Big Green to a seven-point lead in the first half. Peljto traded baskets with Dartmouth’s freshman center and, at halftime, the battle between the teams’ stars was tied at 16 points apiece.

The Crimson suffered without Cserny for all but the first five minutes of the game, as Harvard’s starting center registered two quick fouls. Cserny scored only five points in the first frame.

“[That] killed us. That hurt us,” Delaney-Smith said. “It also affects the way she plays…[They were] questionable calls, quite honestly, in relationship to how they were letting it play. One official was calling a very different game than the other two officials, unfortunately, and I think Reka took the brunt of that. But that’s going to happen. We’re not going to complain about this.”

Cserny came back with a fury in the second half, scoring nearly half (20) of the Crimson’s 41 points.

The Crimson hadn’t seen tape of Morrison’s play this season, and though Harvard knew of her impressive numbers and expected a battle from the Big Green anyway, even Delaney-Smith was surprised by the rookie’s dominance.

“What she did—she keeps the ball high, she squares and just puts the ball over her head and shoots—that’s what all coaches want all post players to do,” Delaney-Smith said.

“She scored 30 points on us so she’s got to be one of the better post players we’ve played,” Tubridy said.

After Morrison had flexed her muscles in the first half, the Crimson defense clamped down in the second. Morrison faced double- and triple-teams in the paint, two of which—a Peljto, Cserny and junior guard Katie Murphy collaboration—forced her into travelling violations.

Although Harvard’s zone made Morrison work for her points, the added attention on Dartmouth’s star left satellite shooters open on the perimeter.

“She brought our focus on defense inside and by that, she opened up their shooters and they just lit it up on us tonight,” Tubridy said.

Big Green forward Jeannie Cullen notched 22 points, 15 of which she scored on three-pointers, and Soriaga tallied 15, including nine on treys. Soriaga’s overtime layup was the only time either of them scored from the paint.

The Crimson doesn’t have another conference contest until its New York swing against Cornell and Columbia on Jan. 30-31. Harvard has today off, and travels to Quinnipiac for a 7 p.m. contest tomorrow.

—Staff writer Jessica T. Lee can be reached at lee45@fas.harvard.edu.