Women's Basketball Splits at Tournament

Coming off one of its toughest losses of the season in the opener of the Arizona State Classic, the Harvard women’s basketball team did not want to leave Phoenix without a victory.

After a hard-fought battle in the frontcourt, the Crimson nabbed one on Sunday at the Wells Fargo Arena against Sacred Heart.

Harvard 74, Sacred Heart 63

After trading baskets with the Pioneers (2-6) for the majority of the first half, Harvard (7-3) utilized a 12-1 run midway through the second stanza to emerge victorious in Sunday’s consolation game, 74-63.

“We wanted to get redemption and show each other and show everybody else who was watching in the audience what Harvard basketball was all about because yesterday wasn’t a testament to that at all,” junior forward Erin McDonnell said.

Returning from the locker room at halftime with a 34-29 lead, the Crimson knocked down seven of its first nine shots in the second half to build a commanding lead. That lead nearly reached its peak with 9:14 remaining, when a three-pointer from senior guard Jasmine Evans put Harvard up 55-38, capping the team’s huge run.

Sacred Heart would respond. After the Crimson’s lead reached nineteen points with 4:11 remaining, the Pioneers rattled off a 14-4 run of its own to pull within nine with a little over a minute to go.

Nonetheless, Harvard put the game away at the free throw line and with one last basket from the game’s leading scorer, junior forward Temi Fagbenle.

Fagbenle carried the Crimson offense with 22 points and 11 rebounds, earning her second consecutive double-double, and her fourth of the season.

“My teammates have been feeding me very well on the floor,” Fagbenle said. “They’re getting the ball in and out [of the paint]…and the fact that they’ve been able to get the ball to me as much as they [have has been really good].”

Harvard shot 52 percent from the field in the second half, marking a sharp turnaround from the first half in which the team shot a meager 37 percent.

In the early going, it appeared as though the Crimson’s struggles on Saturday were carrying over into its second contest. The Pioneers scored the game’s opening seven points, holding Harvard scoreless for about four minutes.

However, McDonnell provided a spark for the Crimson offense throughout the first half, keeping them in the game with great shooting. The forward hit all four shots that she took in the opening frame, including three from beyond the arc. She finished with 17 points.

“I wanted to win,” McDonnell said. “The sense of shoving it down their throats and showing Sacred Heart that we’re that much better [gave] me a lot of momentum.”

Long Beach State 72, Harvard 67

On Saturday, Harvard appeared to be well on its way to punching its ticket to the final, holding a 23-point lead over Long Beach State with 16:15 remaining in the game.

However, a furious second-half rally by the 49ers put that plan on hold, as Long Beach State (5-2) stormed back to beat the Crimson, 72-67.

With 12:47 to play, the 49ers immediately began to turn the game around, going on a 23-2 run over the next seven minutes, which cut the lead to 60-59.

The lead finally shifted hands with 3:06 remaining, after junior forward Ella Clark hit a three to put LBSU up by one. The 49ers would not relinquish that lead, largely in part to Clark who earned five more points down the stretch and had 17 for the game.

“We get conservative, we get cautious [and] we don’t play our game when the heat’s on,” said Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith. “I can’t remember a game in my last 30 years that we’ve lost a [23]-point lead, so I’m pretty disappointed about it to be honest.”

The first half had been a different story for the Crimson. Harvard had success against the 49ers’ press, building a 39-26 lead at the break in the process. Fagbenle scored 10 of her 15 points in the first frame, and sophomore guard Shilpa Tummala put up all 6 of her points in the opening half, while playing in front of her hometown.

“We were just having so much fun with each other [in the first half],” McDonnell said. “We weren’t thinking. We were playing, but there was no thinking out there.”

Yet, Harvard could not repeat its first-half success. The Crimson turned the ball over 18 times in the second frame, finishing with 28 on the game. These turnovers led to 28 LBSU points, ultimately proving to be the difference.

“It was obviously disappointing that we weren’t able to sustain that lead, but we learned from that experience,” Fagbenle said. “[It’s] something that obviously hurt a lot, and we will never ever repeat that.”

One obstacle that Harvard had to overcome in both games was the absence of its leading scorer Christine Clark. The co-captain missed both games of the tournament with an injury that she suffered in the team’s previous game against St. John’s.

“[Clark is] obviously a very important piece of our team,” said Delaney-Smith. “She has a level of work ethic and intensity and leadership that when we can’t have her on the floor, we miss it. That was certainly the case in both games.”

The loss moved the Crimson into the consolation game, while the 49ers moved on to play Arizona State in the championship.