Harvard enters the weekend needing to win each of its five
remaining games to stay alive in the chase for the Ivy League Title
(Gil Talbot).
The Storyline
The Harvard women's basketball team will close out its final road
trip of the season this weekend with trips to Princeton and Penn.
The Crimson will first take on the Tigers Friday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.
in Princeton, N.J., before facing the Quakers Saturday, Feb. 25 at
7 p.m. in Philadelphia, Pa.
Live video and stats will be available for both games through
GoPrincetonTigers.com and PennAthletics.com, respectively.
Last Time Out
Brogan
Berry became the first Ivy Leaguer to record 1,300 points and
500 assists while leading the Harvard women's basketball team to a
71-51 win over Yale Saturday evening in Providence, R.I.
Berry finished the night with eight points and seven assists,
giving her 1,361 career points and 503 career assists. She
currently ranks sixth in program history in scoring while her
assist total is third in program annals, sixth in the Ivy League.
Harvard's 20-point margin of victory was its largest against the
Bulldogs since 1997.
Christine
Clark scored a game-high 23 points, marking the fourth time in
the last six games she has scored 20-plus. The sophomore did so on
10-of-12 shooting and added seven rebounds. Emma Golen notched a
career-high 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting, while Victoria Lippert
and Elle
Hagedorn added 14 points and 11 points, respectively.
Click here to watch highlights from the
game.
History in the Making
Brogan Berry became the first Ivy Leaguer to surpass both the
1,300 point and 500 assist plateaus last weekend and is only the
56th student-athlete in NCAA women's basketball history to do
so. Entering Friday, Berry ranks third in Harvard history and
sixth in Ivy League annals with 503 career assists, and is the
sixth all-time leading scorer for the Crimson with 1,361 career
points. She needs just 19 more points to break into the Ivy League
all-time top 30, and is on pace to become just the 49th
student-athlete in NCAA annals to score 1,400 points and dish
out 500 assists.
Click here to visit the Media Center on
GoCrimson.com to access Harvard's most up-to-date career
records.
Career Scoring (Harvard)
1. Allison Feaster '98
2,312
2. Hana Peljto '04 2,109
3. Reka Cserny '05 1,863
4. Tammy Butler '95 1,605
5. Erin Maher '93 1,582
6. Brogan Berry '12 1,361
Career Assists (Harvard)
1. Jennifer Monti '02 558
2. Emily Tay '09 514
3. Brogan Berry '12 503
Career Assists (Ivy)
1. Jennifer Monti '02, Harvard 558
5. Lauren Benson'10, Cornell 515
6. Brogan Berry '12, Harvard 503
Career Free-Throw Percentage (Ivy)
1. Angela Soriaga '06, Dartmouth 89.9
5. Brogan Berry '12, Harvard 82.8
Down to the Wire
Harvard entered this weekend in third place of the Ivy League
standings at 6-3 with five games to play, but just one half game
behind Yale which is 7-3. The Crimson still have a shot at winning
the conference's regular season title and its automatic bid to the
NCAA Tournament, and needs to win out while receiving help from
Princeton (9-0) to do so.
If Harvard finishes in a tie for either first or second place, the
following tiebreaking criteria will be used to break the tie and
determine the Ivy League's automatic bid to either the NCAA
Tournament or WNIT.
1. Results of head-to-head competition between the tied teams.
2. Comparison of each team's record against the team occupying the
next position in the standings.
3. Random draw.
Players of the Week
Junior Christine Clark and senior Brogan Berry have combined to
earn five Ivy League Player of the Week honors this season, the
most for any single team in the conference. Clark has been named
player of the week three times after earning three Ivy League
Rookie of the Week awards last season. Berry, meanwhile, owns five
career player of the week honors, putting her one shy of entering
the Ancient Eight's all-time top 10.
Welcome to the Club
Junior Victoria Lippert became the 16th member of Harvard's 1,000
point club on Feb. 10 against Penn and is only the sixth
student-athlete in Crimson history to do so as an underclassman.
Lippert enters the weekend ranked 15th in program annals with 1,041
points. Senior Brogan Berry is also a member of the 1,000 point
club and was the fifth student-athlete to eclipse 1,000 points as
an underclassman. She currently ranks sixth in the Harvard record
books with 1,361 points.
300
Harvard won its 300th game in Ivy League play against Penn,
becoming the second program after Dartmouth to reach 300 wins
against Ancient Eight opponents. The Crimson has won 280 Ivy League
games under Head Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith, and has won at least 10
games in the conference 16 times.
Just Like Home
Harvard has posted a 7-5 record on the road this season, including
a five-game winning streak from Jan. 3 to Feb. 4, the program's
longest road winning streak since a seven-game stretch in 2008-09.
The Crimson is seeking its first winning season on the road since
going 10-5 in that same 2008-09 campaign.
Its Been A While
Head Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith, in her 30th season at the helm of
the Crimson, has coached 798 career games and will coach her 800th
on Saturday at Penn. Delaney-Smith has also been on the sidelines
for 403 Ivy League contests, reaching the milestone at home against
the Quakers.
Seeing Crimson
Ffreshman Kaitlyn Dinkins
was the subject of the most recent Seeing Crimson feature on
GoCrimson.com. In the video, Dinkins takes fans into a typical day
of ball handling drills for the Harvard women's basketball
team.
20/20 Vision
Christine Clark and Brogan Berry have combined for six consecutive
20-plus point performances, a feat which the Crimson had not
achieved since going 15 straight games with a 20-point scorer in
2003-04.
Clark began the streak with 23 points at Cornell and followed that
up with a 21-point night at Columbia, becoming the first Crimson
since Victoria Lippert in 2010 to score at least 20 points in
back-to-back games. Berry posted back-to-back 20-point games
against Penn (26) and Princeton (21), marking the first time in her
career she has done so. Clark moved the streak to six games with a
20-point effort at Brown and a 23-point showing at Yale.
Doubling Up
Four Crimson have combined to post six double-doubles this season,
with Christine Clark notcing back-to-back double-doubles against
Princeton and Brown to become the first Harvard student-athlete to
do so since Emma Markley '11 in 2011. Brogan Berry, Emma Golen and
Miriam
Rutzen boast one double-double apiece.
Shooters' Touch
The Crimson shot 51.0 percent (26-51) from the field at Yale,
marking only the second time this season the Crimson has made at
least half of its attempts from the field. Harvard also shot 50.0
percent (26-52) against Alcorn State, marking the first time the
team had done so since shooting 60.9 percent (28-46) in a 77-46 win
against Columbia on Feb. 19, 2011.
Freebies
Harvard was a perfect 21-of-21 at the free-throw line at Columbia,
tying the program record for free-throw percentage in a single game
and marking the first time the team has been perfect on more than
15 attempts. The Crimson is one of just 10 teams in the NCAA this
season to finish a game without a miss at the line and at least 15
attempts, and along with Syracuse's 23-of-23 performance is one of
only two teams to do so with at least 20 attempts.
Christine Clark led Harvard with a 12-of-12 performance at the
line, tying her with Reka Cserny '05 for the best single-game
performance in program history. Clark made 29 consecutive free
throws earlier this season, including an 11-of-11 performance at
New Hampshire.
Nationally Known
Harvard entered the weekend ranked 12th in the NCAA in free-throw
percentage (76.9) and was 29th with a +6.0 rebounding margin. The
Crimson also ranked 13th in personal fouls (13.1), 88th in
three-point field goals per game (5.7) and 99th in field-goal
percentage (40.6).
Individually, Brogan Berry owned the 17th best assist-to-turnover
ratio (2.1) in the land while her 4.6 apg were good for 56th. Berry
also ranked 15th in free-throw percentage (87.4) while Christine
Clark came in at 39th (84.1).
They're on Fire
Harvard entered the weekend ranked second in the Ivy League in
field-goal percentage and first in free-throw percentage,
connecting on 40.6 percent of its attempts from the floor and 76.9
percent at the line. The Crimson has led the league in free-throw
percentage each of the last two seasons while finishing second in
field-goal percentage over that same span.
Individually, Victoria Lippert ranked second in the conference in
shooting percentage (46.0) with Emma Golen coming in seventh
(43.7). Brogan Berry had the second-best percentage at the line
(87.4) with Christine Clark ranking fifth (84.1).
From Way Down Town
Emma Golen entered play this weekend second in the Ancient Eight
in three-point percentage (40.3) while Victoria Lippert ranked
third (38.7) and Brogan Berry fourth (37.5). Lippert's 1.9
three-point field goals per game, meanwhile, were good for third in
the conference.
Golen and Lippert have combined to shoot 42.6 percent from three
over the last 18 games, with Golen hitting on 26-of-58 attempts and
Lippert nailing 34-of-83.
Cleaning the Glass
The Crimson entered the weekend having outrebounded its opponents
in 20 of 23 games this season, including 10 straight from Nov. 22
to Jan. 7. Harvard had not outrebounded opponents in 10-straight
games since the 2006-07 season, when it went 15 straight games with
a rebounding advantage. Harvard also entered the weekend ranked
second in the Ancient Eight in rebounding offense (39.9),
rebounding defense (33.9) and rebounding margin (+6.0).
Individually, Miriam Rutzen ranked ninth in the Ancient Eight with
6.0 rpg after having grabbed 10 or more boards in four games this
season.
Triple Threat
Returning All-Ivy selections Christine Clark, Brogan Berry and
Victoria Lippert are each averaging over 10 ppg and are among the
Ivy League's leading scorers. Entering the weekend Clark had netted
15.9 ppg, which was good for third in the conference, while Berry
ranked seventh with 12.6 ppg and Lippert ninth with 12.3 ppg.
D-Fence
The Crimson is 11-1 this season when allowing less than 60 points
and has held six of its last seven opponents to under that total.
Harvard held both UMass (47) and TCU (44) to under 50 points,
marking the first time it has done so in consecutive games since
March of 2008. Both the Minutewomen (26.6) and Horned Frogs (23.7)
also shot below 30 percent, a feat which the Crimson had not
accomplished since at least the 2001-02 season, the last season for
which complete game-by-game records are available.
Haven't We Seen You Before?
Senior Brogan Berry entered the weekend having made 109 career
appearances in a Crimson uniform, including 108 career starts.
Should she appear in each of the Crimson's final regular season
games, she will finish with 114 career appearances, second only to
Christine Matera's '11 115. If Berry starts each of Harvard's
remaining regular season games, she will set the new program record
for career starts at 113.
You Can Count on Clark
Christine Clark has scored in double-figures in 23 of 24 games
this season, and had a streak of 21 consecutive double-digit
performances dating back to last season. In her first 51 career
games, Clark had scored at least 10 points 43 times and has been
limited to under five points only twice.
BIG Time Win
Harvard's 63-56 win over St. John's on Dec. 22 was the team's
first over a BIG EAST opponent in exactly eight years, following a
73-59 win at Providence on Dec. 22, 2003. It was also Harvard's
first win over a BIG EAST opponent at Lavietes Pavilion since a
79-76 triumph against Syracuse on Nov. 22, 2002, and its first over
a BCS conference school since an 82-81 win over Boston College on
Nov. 14, 2009.
And the Award Goes To...
Christine Clark was named the College Sports Madness Ivy League
Player of the Week on Feb. 19, marking the fifth time this season
the award has gone to a Crimson student-athlete. Clark has earned
the award three times while Brogan Berry and Emma Golen have each
been honored once.
Player to Watch
Senior co-captain Brogan Berry, who has posted 15.0 ppg and 4.7
apg season, was featured on Graham Hays' list of mid-major players to watch on
ESPN.com.
"The 5-8 Ohio native averaged 4.6 assists per game as a junior and
ranked ninth in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio. She's not
all pass, holding onto the ball often enough to lead the Crimson by
averaging 13.6 points per game and shoot 39 percent from the
3-point line."
Captaining the Ship
Seniors Brogan Berry and Lindsay Louie were
chosen by their teammates as captains for the 2011-12 season. Berry
is a three-year starter and two-time team MVP, while Louie earned
the Harvard Pride Award following the 2009-10 season.
Catch the Crimson in 2011-12
Harvard fans can watch each of the team's 12 home games in 2011-12
live online through GoCrimson.com. A women's basketball pass costs
just $59.95 and this year also includes audio broadcasts for the
team's games at Providence, New Hampshire and Brown. Click here to sign up today.
Inside Ivy League Basketball
"Inside Ivy League Basketball," an online radio show dedicated to
talking basketball in the Ancient Eight, launched Thursday, Nov. 10
on BlogTalkRadio.com. "Inside Ivy League Basketball" takes an
in-depth look at all the news and notes surrounding Ivy men's and
women's basketball on and off the courts. Click here to listen now.
