Bulldogs Dominate Harvard to Clinch Season-Series Sweep

Having avenged its loss to Brown a night earlier, the Harvard women’s basketball team (16-9, 8-3 Ivy) took the floor Saturday night against Yale (13-3, 9-3) hoping to take back another early-season defeat. Despite the high expectations, Harvard was unable to complete the weekend sweep and fell to the Bulldogs, 78-64. It was Yale’s first win at Lavietes Pavilion since 2001.

On Senior Night, with four members of the Crimson playing their last game at home, poor three-point shooting hurt the squad, who only managed to hold the lead in the first three minutes of the game. But after the three-minute mark, Yale’s Michelle Cashen converted on a pair of free throws to tie the game, 6-6, and the Bulldogs never looked back, grabbing its first sweep over Harvard since the 1993-1994 season.

Yale surged to a 17-point lead with 8:47 to go in the first half, as the Crimson’s Emma Markley, who was tagged with two early fouls, watched from the sidelines. Despite limited playing time, the senior forward scored 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting for Harvard.

The Bulldogs shut down the Crimson’s other main contributor, guard Brogan Berry, who scored her 1000th point earlier in the week against Columbia (6-10, 5-7 Ivy). The junior finished with 13 points after a sub-par 5-for-17 night from the field.

Harvard was able to cut into the Bulldogs’ lead numerous times, but three-point shooting by Yale guard Megan Vasquez put an end to the Crimson’s streaks. Vasquez, who sank four buckets from behind the arc, made more three-pointers than the entire Harvard team combined. The Crimson’s first three-point conversion came from co-captain Jackie Alemany, with 3:30 left to play in the game.

“Yale did a good job of taking our threes away,” Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “They hit threes and we didn’t. If you look at the stats, that’s the bottom line.”

The Bulldogs also did well shooting from the free-throw line during Saturday’s game. Yale converted on 26 of its 28 attempts from the charity stripe, whereas the Crimson went 17-for-21.

An area in which Harvard did have the advantage was bench play. With 14 points from sophomore guard Victoria Lippert, the Crimson outscored Yale’s bench, 20-10. Freshman center Elise Gordon also made key buckets for Harvard on Saturday, finishing 3-for-3 with six points.

Behind solid defense and transition play, the Crimson was able to reduce Yale’s lead to four points in the second half.

“We were talking well on defense and getting easier buckets on the other end,” co-captain Christine Matera said. “If we would have put that together for 40 minutes, it would have been a different ball game.”

Matera, along with fellow captain Alemany and Markley, played her last home game on Saturday night. Though she had a rough night from the field, finishing 0-for-4 with zero points, Matera was not going to let her last game leave a mark.

“It’s disappointing for the four of us that our last game at Lavietes is going to be a loss,” the senior guard said. “But we’ve had some good memories here, so this game isn’t going to define the past four years.”

The fourth senior featured on Harvard’s roster, Claire Wheeler, was sidelined with an injury as her teammates faced the Bulldogs. Wheeler was included in the Senior Night festivities, however, as she and her parents received a set of balloons and a bouquet of flowers. Though she was not able to play, Wheeler displayed her singing ability Saturday night, as she kicked off the game with a rendition of the national anthem.

Delaney-Smith was proud of her seniors’ play, but unhappy with the outcome of their last home game.

“I’m disappointed for them,” Delaney-Smith said. “I’m proud of how hard they worked; I’m proud that they left their hearts out on the floor. I’m sure this is one that is not going to go away quickly.”

The Crimson found itself ranked second in the Ivy League behind the Princeton Tigers (21-4, 10-1) going into Saturday’s contest. After the loss, the Crimson can now only advance to the NCAA Tournament with Yale and Princeton losses. But some members of the team remain optimistic for their postseason hopes.

“Our fingers are crossed,” Matera said. “Situations like this have happened before, but I know we’ll bounce back. All that we can do is work hard the rest of the season and win out.”