Women's Basketball Headed to NCAA Tournament

The Harvard women’s basketball team entered Lavietes Pavilion this weekend with a share of the Ivy League title already to its name. But the young Crimson team forgot its manners and decided to seize the crown all for itself.

With a 64-48 victory over Cornell Friday night, the Crimson (14-12, 12-1 Ivy) gained sole possession of the Ivy League title and earned the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. Harvard put the icing on the cake Saturday night, honoring seniors Christiana Lackner and Kyle Dalton in a 72-65 win over Columbia.

During the dark days of the Crimson’s dismal nonconference schedule (Harvard went 2-11 against non-Ivy opponents), a league title seemed perhaps a season away. But Harvard’s young talent matured and gained momentum as it plowed through Ancient Eight competition—the team has now won eleven straight.

The Crimson closes out its regular season tomorrow night at Lavietes Pavilion versus Dartmouth. The team will then await the unveiling of the NCAA brackets, which contain the squad’s first-round location and opponent, on March 12. Harvard’s tournament opener, its first March Madness appearance since 2003, will take place on either March 17 or 18.

HARVARD 72, COLUMBIA 65

The Crimson captured its 11th win in a row by defeating Columbia, 72-65, on Saturday’s Senior Night, after graduating co-captains Christiana Lackner and Kyle Dalton were honored with a pre-game ceremony. The victory proved to be much more difficult than expected, after Harvard had outscored the Lions by a margin of 29 points in the teams’ first matchup and had clinched the outright Ivy League title the night before. Columbia (8-20, 4-10) kept it within 13 points on Saturday, not allowing the champs to get away with an easy win.

“This is, in the books, the hardest game to play,” Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “The fact that we beat them so easily the first time always makes it a challenge the second time. It was Senior Night, and Senior Night is usually emotional. I think that was negative and not positive.”

The Lions took advantage of an emotional Crimson team and traded the lead with the hosts for the first 12 minutes of the contest. Three trifectas by Harvard, including two by junior guard Lindsay Hallion, put Harvard up 21-15 with 6:08 to go in the first half.

The Crimson bolstered its first-period lead to 12 with a layup by sophomore guard Niki Finelli, but a pair of three-pointers by Columbia guard Carey Brooke stoked a 9-0 run by the Lions to end the half with Harvard up 29-26.

The Lions exhibited resilience in the second half, keeping Harvard within six points in the first 10 minutes of the period with staunch defense. Columbia also showed that it had polished its long-range artillery during halftime, going 9-of-20 from deep after the break. Three-pointers accounted for 27 of the Lions’ 39 second-half points, but could not match Harvard’s strong 47 percent field-goal shooting for the game.

Four Crimson players notched double digits in points—Finelli and sophomore forward Emma Moretzsohn led the team with 13 and 12 points, respectively, while sophomore guard Emily Tay had 10 points to go along with six assists. Lackner chipped in 11 points and six rebounds in her final appearance at Lavietes.

“Senior Night is kind of surreal,” Lackner said. “It’s been four years that flew by. As for our play, [it was] not like we would like it. But we pulled it off. A win’s a win.”

HARVARD 64, CORNELL 48

A wise man once said, “The best offense is a good defense.”

Harvard proved that axiom in Friday night’s game against Cornell (12-15, 8-6), punishing the Big Red, 64-48, at Lavietes Pavilion. The win clinched the Crimson’s sole possession of the Ivy League title and the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

Harvard’s defense held Cornell to a meager 32 percent field-goal shooting on the night. It also out-rebounded the Big Red, 40-28, and forced 16 turnovers.

“Our offense is always created from our defense,” Lackner said. “Picking up our defense was what got us back in the game and then on top.”

Cornell’s offense came out strong at the start, taking an early 6-0 lead on three-pointers from guards Allie Fedorowicz and Kayleen Fitzsimmons and scoring 21 points in the opening 10 minutes.

The Crimson began its charge at the 8:10 mark with a three-point jumper by junior Jessica Knox and kept the Big Red to only five points in the final ten minutes of the half.

“To be able to step up any minute of any game is really exciting,” said Knox, whose impact this season has primarily been on the defensive end. “I just try to come out and do whatever I can.”

“I’m so proud of this team,” Delaney-Smith added. “Offensively, we were a little off...but this team rolled on. And I’m very proud of that.”

Junior guard Lindsay Hallion and Tay led the offense with 13 points each and Lackner owned the paint, pulling down eight boards.

Harvard captured the lead for good with 6:09 left in the frame on a layup from Moretzsohn and took a 30-26 lead into the locker room. Lackner drained a three in the first six seconds of the second half to extend the lead to seven.

The Crimson fans rose in thunderous applause with less than six minutes to go as Hallion split the defense with a deft juke and rolled in a layup to push the advantage to 58-43, essentially sealing the Ivy title. The cheers continued through to Knox’s two free throws to end the onslaught.

Following the game, each member of the team ascended the ladder for the traditional net-cutting ceremony.