Forward Markley Leads Scorers

In the Harvard women’s basketball team’s victorisou weekend that included wins against Penn and Princeton, it was forced to switch from the style of play it had employed all season. The squad, praised for the performance of its guards—Emily Tay, Brogan Berry and Niki Finelli—looked to shift some of the scoring duties over to the team’s forwards.

“Our guards have been our scorers when it should be our forwards,” Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “We are trying to do a better job. They started double and triple teaming Emma Markley, but she still manages. We want that balance back.”

Friday’s 22-point Crimson comeback saw a collapse in the team’s perimeter shooting, which allowed Princeton to take the lead against the best shooting team in the Ivy League. Harvard was held to 14.8 percent from the field and shot 16.7 percent from three-point territory. When the Crimson came out of the locker room for the second half, it looked to its forwards to close the gap. The transition from a perimeter-oriented offense to a big-man offense allowed sophomore Emma Markley to shine.

This transition continued in Saturday’s matchup as Markley led the team with easy buckets underneath. Her formidable presence on the boards allowed the resurgence of Harvard guard play. After Markley was double-teamed, the Crimson guards picked up where she left off. Harvard went 20 percent from beyond the arc in the first half, only landing one three pointer, but shot 50 percent from the three-point line in the second half after the guards took over the scoring initiative.

THREE-POINT LAND

The Crimson, a team that is usually wet from beyond arc, saw a breakdown in its three-point shooting this weekend. The team shot 27.3 percent from three-point range on Friday and 33.3 percent on Saturday.

“They are hesitating,” Delaney-Smith said. “Tay is an excellent shooter, but she doesn’t like to shoot. I’m trying to get all of them to shoot more.”

The role that Penn and Princeton’s defensive efforts played in the lapse was arguable.

“They came in knowing our system, but every team knows each other team’s system well because it’s a small league,” Delaney-Smith said.

In Saturday’s game against the Quakers, Berry was the only player to make a three and her shooting accounted for all three team three pointers. The Crimson only attempted nine three-point shots against Penn, as it looked to get its forwards more involved in scoring.

Friday’s matchup saw Harvard capitalize on three of its eleven three-point attempts, a disappointing statistic for a sharp-shooting team.

“That was the worst half of basketball I’ve seen in my career,” Delaney-Smith said. “I didn’t know what they were doing out there. I felt embarrassed, but it wasn’t me—it was them.”

The Crimson then relied on the foot work of Markley underneath to pick up the slack of the team’s three-point shooting in the game against Penn.

ON THE BOARDS

Despite the 22-point deficit on Friday, the Crimson was able to take control of the boards. The Crimson snagged over 42 rebounds compared to Princeton’s 27. Harvard was especially dominant on the offensive glass, posting 16 offensive rebounds to Princeton’s five. Despite stellar rebounding, the Crimson was unable to capitalize in the first half.

When play shifted to Markley in the second half she made her presence felt on the boards, tallying 8 rebounds.

“We struggled to get into a groove,” Marley said. “They pressured me on the inside, it was tough but we need to play harder on the boards.”

Harvard also out-rebounded Penn, 40-28, but was able to convert on their rebounding efforts.

By the end of the weekend, Harvard found a system that worked after a catastrophic start in the form of a 22-point first half deficit. The Crimson showed its resilience, as it moves to close out the regular season.

—Staff writer Evan Kendall can be reached at ekendall@fas.harvard.edu.