Cambridge, Mass. - The Harvard women's basketball team will begin Ivy League play on Saturday, Dec. 31 at 12:00 p.m. as the Crimson play host to Princeton. The game will be aired on ESPN News.
What to Know
• Harvard women's basketball opened the Carrie Moore era last month with wins over URI, Boston College, Merrimack, UMass Lowell, Colgate, Maine and Boston University. Saturday's game against Princeton will be Harvard's first Ivy League contest of the 2022-23 schedule.
• Moore is in Year 1 after the retirement of Kathy Delaney-Smith, who was at the helm of the Crimson program for 40 years. Moore was named The Kathy Delaney-Smith Head Coach For Harvard Women's Basketball on April 6, 2022, and arrived in Cambridge after spending the 2021-22 season as an assistant coach at Michigan, helping the Wolverines to a 25-7 record and a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. Moore also had assistant-coaching stints at North Carolina, Princeton and Creighton.
• Harmoni Turner has enjoyed a career season so far this year, scoring a career-high 31 points in the season opener against URI, a career-high 9 assists against Boston College and a career high 7 steals against Maine. At the Cancun Challenge Tournament, she scored 56 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists throughout 3 games against Purdue, Oklahoma State and Florida State, earning a spot on the Cancun Challenge Tournament All-Tournament team. Turner has also been named Ivy League Co-Player of the week twice and most recently Ivy League Player of the week for her performance last week against Boston University. She has reported 20+ points in six games so far this season.
• Two players reported points in the double digits at Harvard's last game against Boston University. Turner scored her first double-double of the season, putting up 28 points and 10 rebounds against the Terriers. This marks her 30th career game scoring points in the double digits. Elena Rodriguez tied her career high with 21 points scored.
• Steals have proved to be a strong point for the Crimson, as they have won every game in which they out-stole their opponent and tied their opponents in steals on three other occasions. In last week's contest, Harvard reported 10 steals over Boston University's six, scoring 21 points off turnovers.
• Harmoni Turner leads the Ivy League in points per game with 18.8. Elena Rodriguez leads the Ivy League in field goal percentage with .700.
• Harvard is meeting Ivy League competitor Princeton University for the 91st time in series history, one in which Harvard trails 44-46. The Crimson are looking to even the series this season starting with a win on Saturday. Princeton won the most recent matchup in the Ivy League tournament on March 11, 2022, 72-67.
• Harvard is coming off a road wins at Boston University and a home win against Maine. They are currently 5-1 at home and only have losses to power five opponents at the Cancun Challenge, UMass and Northeastern. With a 7-5 record, Harvard is third in the Ivy League conference standings.
• Harvard's 2022-23 schedule features 12 non-conference games before Ivy League play begins Dec. 31 against Princeton. The team will hope to advance to the Ivy League tournament for the second consecutive season. The tournament will be held in Princeton, N.J. from March 11-12, 2023.
Up Next
Harvard will host Brown and Yale on Friday, January 6 and Saturday, January 7 in the next two Ivy League matchups of the season. Both games will stream on ESPN+.
