Photo courtesy of Gil Talbot.

Harvard's Starting Line-ups

Autograph session following the Pink Zone Event

Victoria Lippert After Her Career Night

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Despite a slow start to the game, the Harvard women's basketball team held off Brown and came away with a 66-51 win Saturday night at Lavietes Pavilion. Harvard, who is a perfect 10-0 at home this season, improves to 14-7 overall and 5-2 in conference play.

Freshman Victoria Lippert led three Crimson players in double figures with a career-high  27 points. Junior Emma Markley added 17 points and pulled down seven rebounds and junior Christine Matera scored 12 points. Junior Jackie Alemany recorded 10 rebounds on the night to lead all players. Sophomore Brogan Berry grabbed eight rebounds and handed out seven  assists. She moved into 10th on the single season assists list with 130 hand outs.

Brown was held scoreless for the first five minutes of the game, as Harvard jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. The Bears got on the board with four points before the two teams traded 9-0 runs to make the score 16-13 with just under nine minutes remaining in the half.

After being fouled on a lay-up, freshman Miriam Rutzen connected on a free throw to end the Brown run. She made another free throw less than a minute later. Harvard went scoreless from the field for almost six minutes before Lippert drove into the lane for a layup.  Brown cut the Harvard lead to just one, 24-23, with a 10-2 run. Alemany pulled down a crucial rebound as Brown tried to take the lead with 1:13 remaining in the first half. Sophomore Brogan Berry hit a three with 49 seconds left to end the 6-0 run by Brown. Lippert hit two free throws with 15 seconds remaining to give Harvard a 29-23 lead going into halftime.

Harvard went 9-for-21 from the field in the first half, while holding Brown to just 9-of-32 shooting.

Matera hit a three to start the second half which gave Harvard a nine-point lead. Lippert drained a shot from the free throw line after being fouled on a lay-up, for a traditional three-point play, allowing Harvard to take its largest lead of the night, 37-27. Brown used a 9-0 run in the middle of the half to cut into the double-digit lead the Crimson had built, but Harvard didn't let the Bears get closer than six after that. In the final seven minutes of the game, Harvard went on a 17-8 run to close out the game with a 15-point lead.

The Crimson shot 44.2 percent from the field on a 23-for-52 effort from the floor. Harvard outrebounded Brown 47-37 but committed seven more turnovers, with 22 to the Bear's 15.

Harvard travels to New York next weekend to take on Cornell Friday night and Columbia Saturday night. Tip off for both nights is slated for 7 p.m.