Crimson Scorers Power Through Black Bears

Although the women of the Crimson basketball team delivered a not-so stellar performance last night, their offense was able to shine through and deliver a 72-56 victory over Maine.

Harvard improved to 2-0 this season, a mark that it has not achieved in the past four years.

The Crimson’s young talent stole the show against Maine.

Freshman Victoria Lippert led Harvard’s scoring with 24 points.

She shot 10 of 12 from the field and completed three three-pointers out of four attempts.

While Lippert was a consistent star throughout the game, other standouts saved their demonstrations of offensive skill for the second half.

Junior co-captain Claire Wheeler did not make it on the scoreboard in the first half, but the forward successfully completed five shots out of 10 attempts and posted a total of 15 points in the final frame.

“She definitely sparked us—her and Victoria definitely sparked us in the second half,” junior co-captain Christine Matera said.

“At any given time, any of us could step up, but this time, it was definitely Claire...so it’s pretty much expected.”

Wheeler’s statistics did not go unnoticed, but according to Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith, last night’s game was not indicative of the co-captain’s full potential.

“I thought Claire Wheeler put the ball in the basket, but there were times when she was a superstar and times when she [could have played] a whole lot better,” Smith said.

“She can’t miss layups. She made some beautiful strong moves and then she bobbled it…that said, her stats are a big game for her.”

As a team, Harvard shot nearly 50 percent from the field and almost 60 percent in the second half alone.

Offensively, the Crimson compensated for its otherwise fragmented team play. Maine out-rebounded Harvard by 11 and the players and the coaching staff felt the lack of cohesiveness.

“There was erratic, sporadic, soft defense. There was no leadership from point, either point,” Smith said.

Sophomore point guard Brogan Berry posted only five points, all of which were scored in the first half.

Berry matched her statistics from this past weekend’s game against Boston College, in which she also posted five points.

Smith had a few explanations as to why Berry’s statistics might not reflect her actual potential.

“She’s a young player,” Smith said. “And if I was to overanalyze, I’d say she’s missing shots she shouldn’t and I think that’s probably getting under her skin and distracting her a bit.”

As to how Berry could improve for future matchups, Smith had a few ideas.

“She knows at the top of her list is being a vocal leader,” Smith said.

“And she’s a prolific scorer and I’d love her to be, but she doesn’t have to be. We have so many other weapons. I just don’t want it getting under her skin, she’s too much of an asset for that.”

Members of the team acknowledged that there was work to be done on both sides of the court.

“[Our performance] was a little disappointing,” Matera said.

“We didn’t come out as tough as we did in the BC game, so it was a little bit of a letdown. There are things we need to work on, like to be consistent no matter who we play.”

“The positive [thing] that we have to take away from the game is that we won pretty handily even though we didn’t play our best,” Matera added. “But we just need to be consistent no matter who we play.”