W. Basketball Keeps Pace in Ivy Race With Two Wins

The Harvard women’s basketball team took its 20-game unbeaten streak at Columbia’s Levien Gymnasium to New York Friday night. Now, make that 21 straight in the Big Apple—but the trip, the Crimson discovered, was anything but easy.

Captain Reka Cserny scored a game-high 26 points in leading Harvard to a 62-58 victory. Although the Crimson (15-7, 7-2 Ivy) led by 13 early in the second half, a tough Columbia team (11-11, 4-4), led by Sue Altman, battled back to tie the game with 10:03 left. Altman finished with a team-high 20 points, 14 of which came in the second half.

After taking a 31-26 lead into the intermission, Harvard continued its dominance in the second half. Junior forward Kate Mannering, who scored nine points, nailed a layup 17 seconds into the second half, beginning a 10-2 Harvard run in which the Crimson took a commanding 41-28 lead with 15:55 remaining, the Crimson’s biggest of the game. The Lions, aided by five Harvard turnovers, responded with a 13-0 run of their own to tie the game with 10:03 left.

Junior guard Jess Holsey attributed the dry spell to a few different factors.

“It was a combination of things,” Holsey said. “We couldn’t score. It seemed like our shots weren’t falling, and everything of theirs was. But it worked out in the end.”

Cserny, the Ivy League’s leading scorer, asserted herself with a three-point play, followed by a short jumper, to put the Crimson ahead for good at 9:37. Senior guard Katie Murphy, who added 10 points and six assists, hit a three to give the Crimson a 49-41 lead.

Cserny said the Crimson regained momentum because of its tough defense and hard work.

“We’ve been focusing on our team defense recently,” Cserny said. “Our point guards pressure theirs all the way up the court, and they know that everyone is backing them up. We have a lot of confidence in each other right now. We’re working hard, going for steals, and taking chances.”

With four seconds left, Columbia’s Susan Kern netted a three-pointer to bring the Lions within three. But after a foul by Columbia’s Megan Griffin, junior guard Laura Robinson hit the second of two free throws to seal Harvard’s victory.

Even though the score tightened at the end, Harvard led for all but 90 seconds of the game. After a jumper by Shana Franklin gave the Crimson a 3-2 lead with 18:35 left in the first half, Harvard did not trail the rest of the way.

The score remained close throughout much of the first half, as Columbia unsuccessfully attempted to regain its footing. Harvard went on an 8-0 run with 16:31 left in the first half to take a 13-4 lead.

Columbia forward Adia Revell, who scored 12 points, brought the Lions to within one point with a layup nine minutes into the game, but that was as close as it got during the half.

Although the Crimson was 0-of-9 from behind the three-point arc in the first half—and 3-of-18 for the game—Harvard shot 48 percent from the field in the half, compared to the Lions’ 37 percent. For the game, both teams shot 45 percent. Columbia out-rebounded Harvard 32-27, but the Crimson forced Columbia to cough up 24 turnovers, compared to Harvard’s 15.

“We just put a lot of pressure on the ball-handlers. We didn’t want to make anything easy,” Holsey said.

Harvard goes into the last two weeks of its regular season second in the league standings behind Dartmouth, which holds an undefeated Ivy record. In its last two road games of the regular season, Harvard will travel to New Haven this Friday, Feb. 25, for a game against Yale (5-18, 2-8), followed by a game at Brown (15-8, 7-3) Saturday night.

Both Cserny and Holsey emphasized the importance of winning every single game left on the schedule. Although Harvard would also need a Dartmouth loss to capture the league title, the Crimson can accept nothing but perfection the rest of the way.

“This weekend was extremely important,” Holsey said. “We want to win every game left and finish strong.”