Former Harvard Recruit Shines in Maryland Uniform

HARTFORD, Conn.—Entering yesterday’s first-round NCAA Tournament matchup with the defending national champion Maryland Terrapins, coach Kathy Delaney-Smith knew her team would have its hands full.

On one hand, it seemed as though Crystal Langhorne, the Terrapins’ leading scorer and rebounder, would be the player to stop. Listed at 6’2, but with a much wider body than anyone Harvard could assign to guard her, Langhorne posed the toughest physical challenge for the young Crimson squad.

Then there was sophomore guard Kristi Toliver, who as the nation’s second-most-accurate three-point shooter would be around to knock down shots if Harvard doubled down in the post.

And not the least of the Crimson’s concerns was senior guard Shay Doron, who with over 2,000 career points entered yesterday’s game as Maryland’s all-time leading scorer. When Harvard learned that it had drawn the Terrapins as its first-round opponent, Delaney-Smith couldn’t help dwelling on what might have been—four years of Doron in a Crimson uniform, her senior leadership and silky smooth shooting stroke leading a talented group of underclassmen into postseason play.

“We recruited Shay Doron heavily,” Delaney-Smith said last Monday after the NCAA Selection Show. “She’s really a great player—very athletic and tough as nails.”

Delaney-Smith’s familiarity with her prized almost-recruit didn’t make much difference when Doron got hot in the second half. As Harvard packed the paint against Langhorne—holding her to just 12 points—things opened up on the outside for the Terrapins’ Second-Team All-ACC selection.

“This, hands-down, is the toughest offensive team we’ve played,” Delaney-Smith said of the defending champions. “I’m pretty proud of how we played Langhorne, but you have to give up something to stop something else.”

The thing the Crimson “gave up” happened to be Doron, who couldn’t miss in the second half. Doron finished with a game-high 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting, with 14 points coming after the break.

A Harvard degree and the possibility of developing into one of the best in Ivy League history likely appealed to Doron as she weighed her college options four years ago.

But she knew she wouldn’t get the big-game experience at Harvard that she would in the high-intensity environment of the ACC. With her start yesterday, the senior set another school record with her 11th NCAA Tournament appearance.

“Her dad loved the thought of Harvard, probably more than Shay did,” Delaney-Smith said. “There could have been a little extra because of that decision, but I don’t think that her performance was necessarily out of the ordinary.”

Doron wasted no time making her presence felt offensively, answering Crimson forward Katie Rollins’s game-opening layup with a three-pointer at the 18:14 mark.

“I was feeling it early, and my teammates continued to find me so I got some good looks,” Doron said. “The extra pass was there today and that’s why we shot the ball so well.”

But the sharp-shooting guard made her biggest impact down the stretch, pushing the already-improbable upset even further out of Harvard’s reach. The three-year captain came alive in the second half, draining seemingly every perimeter jumper that came her way from the packed-in paint.

Doron scored nine straight Maryland points in the middle of the second half, capping the run with a three-pointer that gave the Terrapins a 54-30 lead with 14:14 to play. Harvard guard Emily Tay matched Doron shot-for-shot after the break, pouring in 14 second-half points of her own, but the effort was too little, too late.

“I wish them the best,” Doron said of the opponents that were almost her teammates. “I don’t regret coming to Maryland, obviously. It’s been a great four years.”

Delaney-Smith thinks it would have been a great four years coaching Doron in crimson and white. In defeat, she can only gear her young underdogs up for another run, and tip her hat to the one who got away.

—Staff writer Emily W. Cunningham can be reached at ecunning@fas.harvard.edu.