Women's Basketball Takes Home Consolation Victory

One day after gift-wrapping a 19-point loss to Louisiana Tech, the Harvard women’s basketball team completed the Georgia Tech Holiday Classic by earning a present of its own.

In the tournament’s consolation game, the Crimson (6-5) outmuscled Lipscomb (4-9) in an 84-63 victory in Atlanta, Ga. After shooting to an early lead, Harvard survived several waves of comeback attempts from the Lady Bisons to stay ahead for all 40 minutes of play.

“The game against Louisiana Tech yesterday really motivated us to fix the mistakes we made,” senior forward Temi Fagbenle said. “We were more consistent in the game today, and that is what we need to be every game.”

With 9:53 left in the second half, a Lipscomb squad that had played catch-up since the opening tip-off threatened to finally close the margin against the Crimson.

Buoyed by a trio of three-pointers, the Lady Bisons put together an 11-1 run that trimmed Harvard’s lead to seven points, the smallest gap since the opening minutes of play.

However, the combination of a Crimson timeout and a pair of substitutions quelled the damage. Over the next six minutes, Harvard outrebounded Lipscomb eight to three, nailed all six of its free throws, and rebuilt a 20-point advantage.

“We played pretty good defense other than letting them take some open shots during their comeback,” senior guard Ali Curtis said. “We knew that our offense would come as long as we were getting stops and making defensive plays.”

Senior forward Erin McDonnell, who contributed a pair of three-pointers during this stretch, led the Crimson with 19 points on the day. Fellow inside threats AnnMarie Healy and Fagbenle added 16 and 14 points, respectively.

Unlike Monday’s game, when Harvard trailed by double digits in the first period, the Crimson raced to a 35-10 advantage in the first 15 minutes of the contest.

Gritty post play underpinned Harvard’s early advantage. In the first 20 minutes of play, the Crimson came down with 12 more rebounds than the Lady Bisons.

“We learned from the scout that they don’t crash the rebounds well,” Fagbenle said. “We definitely took advantage of that at first by quickly checking them and crashing the boards.”

When the final whistle sounded, Harvard had accumulated a 46-24 rebounding advantage, with Fagbenle and McDonnell grabbing nine each. The Crimson also emerged with 21 second-chance points compared to Lipscomb’s nine.

Harvard guards played a significant role in this. Crimson ball handlers totaled a combined 16 boards, including six by junior guard Shilpa Tummala.

“The guards actually recognized that we needed to step up our rebounding game,” Curtis said. “[We] focused on helping our forwards on the boards. There was a dramatic difference, and it really aided our victory.”

Despite a disadvantage in the paint, the Lady Bisons refused to go away. During a one-minute period at the beginning of the second half, Lipscomb made three consecutive threes to eat away at a 20-point deficit.

Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith responded by calling a timeout and swapping out several starters for bench players. The second unit delivered. Junior guard Kit Metoyer made two free throws, Tummala hit a three, forward Destiny Nunley grabbed a steal, and the Crimson used a 10-2 run to push the score to 59-40.

“We simply kept our wits about us and realized that we just needed to continue to attack,” Fagbenle said. “We focused on defense and stopping them from scoring all those outside three-pointers…. Our offense came as a result.”

The blowout score obscured an impressive team effort from the Lady Bisons. Four Lipscomb players finished in double figures, with forward Ashley Southern and guard Chandler Cooper tallying 14 points apiece.

Over the final four minutes of play, Harvard rested its starters. But the Lady Bisons never got closer than 18 points from the Crimson in the closing stages.

“Our game was won on the defensive end and with rebounding,” Curtis said. “Overall we needed to play our game of basketball, and that’s what we did.”

—Staff writer Sam Danello can be reached at sdanello@college.harvard.edu.