CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard women's basketball (9-7, 2-1 Ivy) bounced back into the win column this afternoon by downing Brown (11-5, 2-1 Ivy).  With its 73-59 victory, the Crimson moved to 2-1 in leage play and handed the Bears their first Ivy loss of the season. 
 
Elena Rodriguez led all Crimson scorers in the contest with 21 points to reach double figures for the 11^th time this season.  By also adding a season-best 13 rebounds, four assists, and a block, the junior recorded her third double-double of 2023-24.  Lola Mullaney and Harmoni Turner closed out double digit scorers, each contributing 13 points. 

How it Happened

The Bears jumped out to an early 10-2 lead through the first five minutes of the contest but a 13-3 run to close the quarter put the Crimson up 15-12.  The first quarter saw scoring contributions from five different players led by four from both Elena Rodriguez and Saniyah Glenn-Bello. 
 
Rodriguez opened the second quarter by draining the first five points for the Crimson.  Lola Mullaney followed with triples on back-to-back possessions to grow the Crimson lead out to nine.  The entirety of the second frame remained even as the Crimson and the Bears traded buckets.  At the half, Harvard led by six as all seven players to hit the floor contributed to the scoring effort.  Rodriguez and Mullaney led all scorers with nine points each, both shooting over 50% in the first 20 minutes. 
 
The third quarter proved to push Harvard out of reach of the Bears as they won the ten minutes, 21-9.  Glenn-Bello and Rodriguez came out of the locker room on fire, combining for the first 12 Crimson points to grow its lead out to 15.  The squad was dominant on the boards in the third quarter, grabbing 16 rebounds to the Bears five.  On the offensive end alone the Crimson grabbed 11 rebounds to result in nine second change points.  Heading into the final quarter the Crimson held a 53-35 advantage. 
 
Maintaining the same offensive success in the last ten minutes, Harvard was able to close out the contest with a win.  Early in the fourth quarter, Turner was able to knock down a triple to surpass double figures and give the Crimson its biggest lead of the game at 21.  As a team the Crimson received points from six different players in the final ten minutes while shooting 7-for-13 (53.8%) from the field.  Harvard shared the ball tremendously to close out the game, assisting on all of their fourth quarter buckets.  Ultimately, Harvard never let their lead fall below 13 to secure the 73-59 victory and hand the Bears their first conference loss.

Harvard Highlights

• Elena Rodriguez led all scorers by reaching double figures for the 11^th time in 2023-24.  The junior posted her third double-double, contributing 21 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, and a block. 
• Rodriguez, who leads the league in field goal percentage, scored her 21 points on 9-of-14 (64.3%) shooting from the field. 
• Harmoni Turner and Lola Mullaney joined Rodriguez in double digits by both registering 13 points.  Turner added five rebounds, five assists, and two steals while Mullaney dished out two assists and recorded a block. 
• With three triples today, Mullaney now stands with 257 career threes and just five out from moving into second all-time for three-pointers made in Harvard history. 
• Saniyah Glenn-Bello and Abigail Wright both nearly recorded double-doubles, contributing nine points and eight rebounds and eight points and nine rebounds, respectively.
• The battle in Providence included the Bears number two ranked scoring defense against the Crimson number two ranked scoring offense in the league.  The Crimson were able to put up 73 points on Brown who normally averages holding opponents to 58 points per game.
• As a team, Harvard shot 41.2% (28-for-68) from the field and 36.4% (8-for-22) from beyond the arc. 
• Of its 28 made field goals, the Crimson assisted on 19 shots.  Turner and Glenn-Bello led the team by dishing out five assists each.
• The Crimson won the rebounding battle, grabbing 45 boards to the Bears 38.  Harvard now moves to 7-1 when outrebounding their opponents. 
• Harvard attacked the offensive boards this afternoon with 19 of their game total coming on the offensive end of the court.  The Crimson success following shots led to 18 second chance points. 
• Harvard continues to play lockdown defense around the three-point arc, holding the Bears to only five made threes on 20.8% shooting. 

Next Up

The Crimson will return home for the third time in four games to face Penn on Saturday, January 20.  Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. in Lavietes Pavilion and on ESPN+.