CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard women's basketball (15-9, 8-3 Ivy) punched their ticket to Ivy Madness this afternoon by downing Brown (14-10, 5-6 Ivy), 80-73.
The Crimson received contributions from all down its lineup with four players reaching double figure scoring. Senior
Lola Mullaney led the way with 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting followed by
Harmoni Turner with 21,
Abigail Wright with a career-high 18, and
Karlee White with 11 in her first appearance in 10 games.
Following the victory
Carrie Moore, the Kathy Delaney-Smith Head Coach for Harvard Women's Basketball said, "We're a resilient group, and it's about, how do we respond when things aren't going our way. And I thought they did that in the second quarter, and they did that pretty big in the fourth quarter as well. So, incredibly proud of how we finished the game because we have been talking a lot about finishing plays and finishing games."
How it Happened
The first quarter was a back-and-forth battle as the Bears pulled ahead for several small leads to open the contest. Scoring was opened up by Turner connecting on a pull-up bucket less than a minute in. Mullaney got going early and gave the Crimson its first lead of the game at 12-10 by knocking down back-to-back triples off a pair of assists from Turner. A pair of Mullaney free throws with one minute remaining provided the final points of the quarter and pulled the Crimson within one after 10 minutes.
Harvard used the second quarter to put distance between themselves and Brown, outscoring the Bears 28-17. After Brown tied up the contest at 22-all a layup from Turner ignited a 19-2 Harvard run across the next four minutes. With the run, Turner and Mullaney each added six points, followed closely behind by Wright with 5 and
Elena Rodriguez's first bucket in her return. Heading into the locker room, the Crimson held at 45-35 lead after shooting over 63% in the second frame.
The Bears used the third quarter to cut into the Crimson lead, even pulling ahead, 51-50, at the 4:04 mark. Led by six straight points from
Abigail Wright in the closing minutes, Harvard quickly regained the lead and went into the final frame up 56-52.
To close out the contest and clinch the Crimson spot in Ivy Madness, Harvard scored 24 points and shot 77.8% from the field in the final 10 minutes. After the Bears tied things up,, 57-57, a
Gabby Anderson bucket put the Crimson ahead and the squad would go on to never again lose its advantage.
Karlee White provided strong minutes down the stretch in her first game back, scoring eight of her 11 points during crucial moments in the fourth. A slew of Crimson free throws ultimately solidified its victory, 80-73.
Harvard Highlights
- The Crimson had four players reach double figures on the night with Lola Mullaney leading the way with a near season-high 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and 6-of-9 from distance. The senior added three rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and three steals to round out a strong senior day performance.
- Harmoni Turner joined Mullaney in 20+ point performances with 21. The junior flirted with a triple-double by adding 10 assists, eight rebounds, and two steals on the night.
- Abigail Wright posted a career-high with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting while nearly registering a double-double with eight rebounds and a block.
- In her first game back since January 6, Karlee White was a game changer, providing 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, four rebounds, and a block.
- Today's contest served as the first game back for both White and Elena Rodriguez after missing 10 and five games, respectively.
- Harvard held a slight advantage in the rebounding battle today, grabbing 37 boards to Brown's 36. The Crimson are now 13-1 in 2023-24 when outrebounding its opponents.
- As a team the Crimson shot 49.2% from the field and 36.4% from distance throughout the contest. Harvard's four double digit scorers all shot 47% or better from the field against the Bears.
- On the other end of the court, the Crimson continue to lead the league in three-point defense, holding the Bears to 27.6% from beyond the arc.
- The Crimson put up its third highest assist total of the year, dishing out assists on 19 of its 29 made buckets.
- With the win the Crimson improve to 62-34 all-time against the Bears and move its win streak over the foe to 17-straight.
Next Up
Harvard will hit the road for one final time in the Ivy League regular season to take on Princeton and Penn on Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2, respectively. Tip-off is set for 5:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on either day.
