Harvard Still in Title Contention

The Harvard women’s basketball team is not going to relinquish its Ivy League crown easily.

Following last Friday’s ugly 24-point loss to Cornell, the league leader, the Crimson has won its last two games to stay in second place in the Ancient Eight. After regaining some confidence by putting away Columbia last Saturday, Harvard (14-9, 7-2 Ivy) began the second round of Ivy League play with a convincing 65-51 win at Princeton (5-19, 2-6) Friday night.

“Each game is a championship for us right now,” co-captain Lindsay Hallion said. “We have so few games left and this is a special team and special year and we feel like we can still do a lot of great things.”

The Crimson may have to win out in order to achieve its goal, but the team does not seem to be fazed.

Junior Katie Rollins put in another monster performance, scoring a game-high 20 points, and Harvard held Tigers’ senior Megan Cowher, the league’s leading scorer, to just six points.

Princeton was never really able to trouble the Crimson despite looking for revenge for the 82-64 drubbing it was given in Cambridge.

In that game, Harvard was able to hold Cowher to 11 points, and the Crimson made stopping the senior star its primary objective again.

“I particularly liked our defense tonight,” Crimson coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “We executed our gameplan.”

Harvard brought the double-team on Cowher all night and now has been able to shut down the league’s leading scorer twice this season.

“It takes the whole team to stop a star player like that,” Rollins said. “We did a good job with rotation.”

Much of the work was done by senior forward Adrian Budischak, who played despite being sick all week.

The Crimson jumped out to an early 11-point lead midway through the first half, and went into the break up 33-23.

With just over 12 minutes left, Harvard had built a 19-point lead, and continued to roll until the game’s close.

The ease of victory also allowed Delaney-Smith to give opportunities to some of the squad’s younger players. Every available Crimson player got at least four minutes of game time.

On the offensive end, Rollins was once again the Crimson’s biggest force. She shot 8-for-9 from the floor and added four rebounds to the effort as well.

“I just have been feeding off the energy of the team,” a modest Rollins said after the game.

The past few weeks have seen Rollins become consistently dominant, and Friday was her second-straight 20-point contribution.

“It’s just maturity,” Delaney-Smith said. “She’s always had a great touch around the basket, but she used to rush it. But tonight she was in total control offensively. When she was double-teamed, she kicked it out and got someone else the shot. It’s a level of maturity and poise and I think she’s finally found her comfort zone and timing.”

Junior Emily Tay also scored in double digits, finishing the game with 13 points and four assists. Hallion added nine points and junior Niki Finelli grabbed seven boards.

Harvard was very efficient, shooting over 40 percent for the game. And the offensive effort was certainly matched by the hard work put in on the defensive end.

After last weekend’s hiccup, the players were looking to turn this weekend into a statement.

“[Tonight] we sent a message for the second round of Ivies,” Rollins said.

—Staff writer Jay M. Cohen can be reached at jaycohen@fas.harvard.edu.