Cserny’s 23 Points Help W. Basketball Steamroll Tigers

Harvard women’s basketball fought fire with fire this weekend, and in so doing made a critical statement: Championship offenses may belong to bygone years, but the Crimson’s resident status as beast of the Ivies remains alive and appreciably well.

By stingily dispatching the Ivy League’s two best defenses on its annual mid-Atlantic sojourn, the Crimson (12-6, 4-1 Ivy) took a share of second place and a dose of crucial mid-season adrenaline.

Saturday, the team brushed away Meagan Cowher and the Princeton Tigers (9-9, 1-4 Ivy) by a dominating 67-51 margin.

“We played awesome, awesome defense,” said junior point guard Jessica Holsey, who chipped 11 points into the effort. “We work really hard on it in practice. It’s something we take pride in.”

Harvard never trailed during the game, and led by as much as 32 points with 12:34 left in regulation.

Reka Cserny, who at 20.6 points per game has become the most dominant offensive player in the Ivy League—and who poured 23 points on the overmatched Tigers—gave credit to the steely defensive effort.

“Even when I was on the bench, I could just see it,” Cserny said. “We were on the ball. We had our hands up. I think they were getting frustrated by it.”

Nine minutes into the game, the Crimson had already reaped rewards from its defensive dominance. Harvard motored to early leads of 17-2 and 20-5, and Princeton scorers Becky Brown and Meagan Cowher found little room to operate.

Instead, it was freshman Ariel Rogers who keyed several scattered scoring spurts for the Tigers, finishing with 11 points.

Four Harvard players—Cserny, Holsey, and 6’1 juniors Kate Mannering (12) and Maureen McCaffery (11)—matched or surpassed that total.

The victory at Princeton, coupled with a thrilling win against defending Ivy League champion Penn in Philadelphia on Friday, should be important for a Harvard team feeling out its identity.

Gone is Hana Peljto ’04, the face of coach Kathy Delaney-Smith’s championship squads of the early decade. In her lofty place is Cserny, the captain who, at this point, has cut an impressive figure in nearly every conference-wide offensive and defensive statistical measure—including points (first), rebounds (second), blocks (fourth) and even three-point percentage (third).

At 22.4 points per game against Ivy opponents—more than five points better than any other scorer in the league—Cserny is having one of the best seasons ever for a Harvard player and, in addition, is turning it up when her team needs her most.

Harvard has won six of its last seven, including two straight on the road after an Ivy League-opening overtime loss at Dartmouth on January 8.

Next up? A Friday home date against Brown (13-6, 5-1) for sole possession of second place in the Ivy League.

The mid-Atlantic sojourn surely will register as a crucial weekend in the Ivy title run. But a statement?

“The statement will come when we win all our Ivy games,” Holsey said.

If a steel-toed Crimson defense continues to show up, it’s certainly within the realm of possibility.

—Staff writer Alex McPhillips can be reached at rmcphill@fas.harvard.edu.