Women's Basketball Extends Winning Streak After Defeating NJIT

The Harvard women’s basketball team (7-1) overcame the notion of a ‘trap game’ on Sunday afternoon at Lavietes Pavilion with a 59-38 win over visiting NJIT (3-5).

Sandwiched between Thursday’s important win against Temple and next week’s trip to face Big-12 oppponent Kansas, this game had the potential to be a letdown for the Crimson. Despite sloppy offensive play throughout, the hosts played combative defense and limited the Highlanders to 14-of-55 (25.5%) shooting.

“[The result] is huge,” head coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “I’ve had really, really good teams in the past that drop this game. There have been a bunch of games where we should have doubled the lead and we let them back in…. It may be because we’re young, but we have to go and find a strategy for that.”

Harvard controlled the offensive glass early, turning missed shots into points with regularity. At one point, they missed four straight three-pointers on the same possession before a fourth consecutive offensive rebound led to freshman guard Katie Benzan connecting on the fifth try. The Crimson jumped out to a 14-4 lead, with NJIT’s interior overload on defense not working.

The Highlanders responded with an 8-0 run to end the quarter fueled by a string of Harvard turnovers. Benzan and sophomore guard Madeline Raster were responsible for back-to-back-to-back miscues, and the two ended the game with 13 of Harvard’s season-high 27 turnovers.

“That’s uncharacteristic [of Raster and Benzan],” Delaney-Smith said. “I’m not sure what their mindset was. Even when we tried to make adjustments, Katie Benzan was uncharacteristically making bad decisions in situations where she’s normally stellar.”

Airtight defense, however, continued to buoy the hosts. NJIT didn’t record its first field goal of the second quarter until more than midway through the period, and Harvard used five points from sophomore Kelsey Bogdan to stretch its halftime lead to 26-16.

“We were sticking to the scout,” said Delaney-Smith of her team’s defending, “we were switching screens when we were supposed to, we were talking, we were keeping them off the board. On defense, we were far more intense than we were on the defensive end.”

Sophomore guard Nani Redford also contributed well in the latter part of the half, running the point with authority and rebounding a few misses that led to second-chance opportunities. At the half, the Crimson had attempted 21 three-pointers out of 31 total field goals and outrebounded its opponents 31 to 13. The hosts also had 14 turnovers through 20 minutes.

Turnovers continued to plague Harvard in the second half but a pair of threes from sophomore guards Sydney Skinner, who led the team with 14, and Nani Redford pushed the lead to 18. Highlanders’ sophomore Kelly Guarino’s triple followed by a layup briefly made a game of it, but Benzan responded with a three of her own to restore the Crimson’s 17-point advantage.

Skinner connected from beyond the arc on back-to-back possessions to give the hosts their biggest lead of the night, 49-25, early in the fourth quarter. This essentially ended NJIT’s hopes of a comeback, and from there on the hosts were able to see the lead safely out.

“I think getting my team back, kind of high-spirited, was the biggest thing,” Skinner said. “The and-one passes helped a lot, get the ball moving, and get our team amped again. Hitting open shots gets the crowd amped, our bench amped. I wanted to help get our energy back.”

Benzan finished the game with 11 points and a team-high seven assists, while captain Destiny Nunley scored six and grabbed 15 rebounds. Redford added nine points, six rebounds, and three assists of her own.

—Staff writer Manav Khandelwal can be reached at manavkhandelwal@college.harvard.edu.