CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Despite a back-and-forth battle inside a sold-out Lavietes, Harvard women's basketball (14-9, 7-3 Ivy) fell to Columbia (18-5, 9-1 Ivy), 63-71, this afternoon.
The contest remained tight nearly the entire 40 minutes as the lead shifted 19 times and stood even on seven occasions.
Katie Krupa once again led the way for the Crimson by matching her career-high with 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting and adding three rebounds, three assists, and a block.
Lola Mullaney with 14 and
Harmoni Turner with 11 each joined Krupa in double figures as the Crimson shot 44.3% from the field.
How it Happened
Through the first ten minutes the Crimson held a slight 18-17 advantage over the Lions in a quarter that saw six lead changes.
Harmoni Turner got to work early but scoring all of the squads first nine points.
Throughout the rest of the quarter four other Crimson players got on the board to put them ahead. The team opened up strong by shooting 44.4% from the field and holding the Lions to 37.5%.
The second quarter proved to be a defensive battle as it produced the lowest combined scoring output of the game.
Katie Krupa opened up the frame by knocking down a triple to give the Crimson a four-point lead. Despite being unable to gain an advantage over four, Harvard was able to hold onto the lead up until the final minute and a half of the quarter. A Columbia triple put the Lions back in front, 28-27, heading into the locker room.
The story of a back-and-forth battle continued into the third quarter as the lead changed hands on 10 different occasions. Krupa once against began scoring as she converted close to the bucket just 10 seconds in to give the Crimson back the lead. The scoreboard showed in favor of the Crimson for most of the frame receiving scoring from Krupa, Turner, Mullaney, Glenn-Bello, and Anderson. A short 6-0 run from the Lions however, gave Columbia a four-point lead heading into the final 10 minutes.
With two buckets from Krupa to begin the final quarter, Harvard was brought back into the lead for a short period. Up until the halfway mark neither team could grab a lead larger than four, but a Lions triple gave Columbia more distance. Despite many comeback efforts in the final minutes of the contest, Columbia was able to hold onto their lead until the final buzzer, ultimately closing the match up, 63-71.
Harvard Highlights
- Katie Krupa led all scorers by matching a career-high of 25 points and shooting 64.3% (9-of-14) from the field and 66.7% (4-of-6) from distance. The sophomore added three rebounds, three assists, and a block to her standout performance.
- Across the month of February, Krupa is averaging 20.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game while shooting 51.4% from the field and 55.6% from three.
- Lola Mullaney reached double digits for the 18th time this season by adding 14 points on a season-best 70.0% (7-of-10) shooting performance.
- Harmoni Turner rounded out double figure performers with 11 points, nine of which she hit consecutively to open the game for the Crimson. The junior also added four rebounds, a team-leading four assists, and two steals.
- With her pair of steals today, Turner passes Tammy Butler to move into the top-five for career steals with 172 and counting.
- As a team, the Crimson shot 44.3% from the field and 33.3% from distance throughout the contest.
- By forcing 18 Lions turnovers in the game, the Crimson capitalized for 21 points off of takeaways.
- As the Crimson continue to lead the league in three-point defense by holding its opponents to an average of 28.2%, it held the league's second best three-point shooting team to 28.6%.
Next Up
The Crimson will remain home to take on Brown in a crucial Ivy contest on Saturday, February 24. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. in Lavietes Pavilion and on ESPN+ as the Crimson host its Think Pink game and Senior Day.
Gallery: (2-18-2024) Women's Basketball vs. Columbia
