Women's Hoops Trounces Rival Dartmouth

The Harvard women's basketball team had every possible motivation to deliver its best effort of the season Friday night at Lavietes Pavilion.

Not only was it the team's first home game in almost a month and the Ivy League opener against arch rival Dartmouth, but the game was also broadcast live on DirecTV and attracted a crowd of 2,035 spirited fans.

And the Crimson did not let down a single one of them. On the strength of an unbreakable half-court defense and precise shooting and passing, Harvard came out of the gate with an 11-2 run and never looked back.

Leading by as many as 22 points in the second half, the Crimson (7-5, 1-0 Ivy) allowed the Big Green (6-6, 0-1) to mount a futile rally at the end, as Harvard triumphed 73-67 in a lopsided six-point victory.

"There is nothing better than beating that team," Captain Laela Sturdy said. "I know the seniors on this team have been around for a while, and the rivalry has been getting stronger every year. This is what we work for."

It was also a huge victory for Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith. Not only was it the 150th Ivy victory of her career.

"We were just so ready," said junior center Melissa Johnson. "Coach says it's not always the better team that wins, but the team that is willing to pay the bigger price. We just laid it out there today."

Harvard's outside shooting allowed the Crimson to build a 22-point lead with 10:16 left in the game.

"I guess their game plan was to pack the middle, and give us open threes," Delaney-Smith said. "We'll take that."

Sturdy was ranked 10th in the country in three-point percentage making exactly half the treys she took. She led the Crimson with 15 points while sinking 3-of-4 three-point attempts, improving her three-point shooting to 52.9 percent.

While Sturdy was spectacular, it was the fierce play of sophomore guard Jenn Monti that allowed the Crimson to build its 28-19 halftime lead. Monti, accounting for two-thirds of the Crimson offense at half, shot 4-of-6 from the floor and added four assists in a half in which the Crimson managed 12 field goals. Monti, who was ranked ninth in the country with a 7.1 assists per game average going into the contest, had six assists on the day.

Monti often played the role of team savior, leading the Crimson out of the tight Dartmouth press and hitting difficult outside shots with the clock ticking down and the Big Green defense taking away all other options.

Johnson had a superb game for the Crimson as well. Her 13 points and team-leading 13 rebounds matched her stat line from last week's game against New Hampshire. Despite any Dartmouth effort to the contrary, Johnson, with the help of some creative passing from Monti, managed to be an inside offensive force.

The Crimson defense was especially spectacular, holding the Big Green to an embarrassing 25.0 percent shooting in the first half. Dartmouth guard Courtney Banghart, the Big Green's usual go-to player, was so cold that she only played 22 minutes. She hit three meaningless three-pointers towards the end of the game at a point when a Dartmouth comeback was impossible.

"As their senior captain," Delaney-Smith. "[Banghart] needs to be doing better."

With around four minutes left in the first half, after Banghart missed a three-point shot by a whole foot, she attempted to go right by sophomore forward Katie Gates on her next possession. Gates, who also scored 11 for the Crimson, responded by completely redirecting Banghart's shot in dramatic fashion.

After scoring 19 points in the first half, Dartmouth managed 48 in the second as the pace of the game increased. The Big Green managed to have some success in the transition game, beating the Crimson back to other end of the floor more often than not.

"I don't think they scored against our half-court set defense the whole game," Delaney-Smith said.

The Dartmouth press did manage to cause some problems for the Crimson. In the first half, the Big Green didn't have too many opportunities to utilize it, because of the lack of scoring.

In the early moments of the second half, it looked as if the press might give Dartmouth the chance to come back, as Harvard lost the ball on two consecutive possessions and had its lead cut to 30-23.

But on its next possession, the Crimson beat the press and got the ball to Johnson, who made the shot underneath and drew a foul. Then Sturdy got the rebound and put back the missed foul shot to give Harvard a crushing four-point play. After that, the press was never really a problem.

"We never really let down," Sturdy said. "Through any runs that they got into, we just kept our composure."

With the Crimson up 57-38 with 8:38 left, the Harvard offense suddenly went cold. The Big Green was able to mount a 10-0 run to cut the lead to single-digits with 4:12 left. But then two shots by Johnson, a layup off a rebound and a jumper from the top of the key put Harvard back up by 13 with 3:10 left.

Clutch foul shooting by freshman guard Bree Kelley, who hit 7-of-10 from the line, including her last four, iced the victory for Harvard.

"We completely dominated this game," Delaney-Smith said. "I never really had any doubt that we would lose towards the end."

The Crimson will now look towards next week, when they have two more Ivy League games at home against Yale and Brown. Likely the team's biggest challenge will be to avoid a letdown after such an exhilarating victory.