Women's Basketball Rides Second Half Streak to Win Over Dartmouth

UPDATED: January 26, 2015, at 1:00 a.m.

Harvard versus Dartmouth. A 14-point deficit. A late, furious, and successful comeback.

Four hours after the Big Green men’s basketball squad lived out this narrative en route to a come-from-behind victory in Cambridge, Mass., the Crimson women’s squad achieved the same feat, clawing back for a 75-69 win over Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H. Propelled by a 12-0 run in the last three minutes, the Crimson erased a double-digit halftime gap.

“We simply never gave up,” said senior forward Temi Fagbenle. “We resolved to leave it all out on the court and attack the way we know how to. It was truly a team effort.”

After 39 minutes of basketball, Harvard had yet to hold a lead. But with two shots—one missed and one made—junior guard Shilpa Tummala changed that.

At the 1:04 mark, a missed free throw from Tummala led to an offensive rebound by senior forward Erin McDonnell, a second-chance possession, and an open three for Tummala. This time she didn’t miss, giving the Crimson a 68-67 advantage and its first lead of the game.

From there, it was a matter of fundamentals—defense and free throw shooting. On one end, the Crimson prevented Dartmouth from getting a go-ahead bucket, only conceding a layup with 20 seconds left when the visitors held a 5-point lead. On the other end, Harvard went 7-of-8 from the charity stripe in the final minute to ensure the victory.

“[Free throw shooting] is definitely something we practice regularly,” said senior guard Ali Curtis. “This week in practice especially we ended almost every practice with a pressure free throw drill. It payed off big for us in this game.”

This last-minute performance bore little resemblance to the Crimson’s first-half play, when the team went down 8-0 early and entered the break down by 13. In the period, Harvard racked up 10 turnovers compared to eight assists.

“[That was] due to a repeating fault of beating ourselves or shooting ourselves in the foot,” junior forward AnnMarie Healy said. “In the first three minutes, they were able to capitalize on our turnovers and fouls.”

Even so, the Crimson got early production from Healy, who scored nine points in the first frame and finished with 17 on 8-of-13 shooting. Healy has now reached double figures in nine of her last 11 games, including an average of 19 over the past three contests.

However, in the last three minutes, it was fellow forward Fagbenle and Tummala who erased the deficit in the 12-0 spurt. Fagbenle scored four points during the stretch, and Tummala contributed her big trey.

“I love playing with Temi,” Healy said. “As teammates, we both have a lot of confidence in each other…. We definitely have a look when we both know that we have to turn it on.”

Fagbenle finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds, her seventh double-double of the season. Combined, she and Healy are averaging nearly 28 points and 17 rebounds a game.

“Our relationship on the court is fierce,” Fagbenle said. “We are pretty in tune with what the other is going to do, and we give each other so much energy.”

After facing a 13-point disadvantage at halftime, the Crimson cut into the lead right away with a McDonnell three-pointer on the first possession. However, Harvard would get no closer than seven over the next 16 minutes as the Big Green negated any comeback efforts with buckets of its own.

Sophomore guard Fanni Szabo led the Dartmouth attack, registering a game-high 25 points in 39 minutes of play. She gave her squad its largest lead of the game with 6:21 left by knocking down a jumper to push the score to 62-48.

From that point on, the Crimson outscored the hosts, 27-7.

“I think we have stepped up intensity-wise,” Curtis said. “It’s always expected in the Ivy League, but there’s an extra sense of pride with us this year because of how our season has gone so far. We either step it up or roll over, and we are choosing to bring it.”

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

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: January 26, 2015

An earlier version of this article misquoted senior forward Temi Fagbenle. Fagbenle referred to the way her team knows "how to," not "hot to," play.