Peljto Leads W. Basketball In Season Opener

Sophomore forward Hana Peljto scored 27 points, matching her career high, and freshman center Reka Cserny scored 19 in her Harvard debut to lead the Harvard women’s basketball team to a 77-54 victory in its season opener against Wagner at Lavietes Pavilion last Saturday.

The Crimson went up 16-8 early, 42-27 at the half and never looked back. The Seahawks cut the Harvard lead to single-digits early in the second half, but never seriously threatened.

“We showed that we’re a new team this year with a lot of confidence and a lot of intensity,” co-captain Katie Gates said. “We played really well as a team, I thought.”

The increased emphasis on teamwork is partly reflected in the Crimson’s new offensive scheme. Harvard will now be using a flex offense instead of the triangle, which it has used for the past two years.

The change in the offense, which relies more on ball-handling skills and ball reversal from side-to-side, was evident from the outset of the game. Harvard repeatedly earned easy baskets underneath after series of passes and picks.

“This was a good win for us,” said Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith. “I thought the teamwork was great and the passing was great.”

Junior guard Jenn Monti tallied 13 assists—just one short of her career high from her sophomore year against Yale.

“[My teammates] make me look good,” Monti said. “I don’t get the assist unless they score.”

Cserny shot 8-for-12 and provided the reliable, consistent shooting that the team had often been missing from the center position last season. In addition to the increased emphasis on ball movement in the offense, the boost to Harvard’s talent up front from Cserny— combined with the usual production from Peljto and sophomore Tricia Tubridy—gives Monti tremendous potential to up her assist numbers this season.

“[The assist total] doesn’t surprise me,” Gates said. “I’m sure she’ll break that many times.”

The Crimson all shot much better than it did at the beginning of last season, when Harvard struggled to a 1-10 start. The Crimson shot 53.2 percent from the floor for the game, and Peljto, Cserny and Tubridy combined for 58 points.

Wagner was limited to just 36.4 shooting from the floor and turned over the ball 25 times. Gates had a career-high six steals and Tubridy had four.

Sophomore Carrie Walker led Wagner with 15 points, and no one else reached double digits.

Delaney-Smith said that defensively Harvard would be making more use of the zone.

“We’re going to our zones much sooner than we did in the past, because we want to use our height and not worry about matchups,” Delaney-Smith said.

Although there was little to find wrong in a 23-point blowout, Harvard did have room for improvement in a few areas.

Cserny got in early foul trouble, which was particularly dangerous since several of the team’s other forwards were injured. The Crimson was also outrebounded 36-35 and committed 19 turnovers. Monti alone had nine.

Harvard is the preseason favorite to win the Iv y League according to the preseason media poll, while defending champ Penn and 2000 champion Dartmouth are right behind.

The Crimson expects to have a better idea of where it stands after it hosts Boston University tomorrow night at Lavietes. Harvard hopes to rise to the occasion as the competition gets harder.

“We clearly dominated this game and Tuesday will be a better indication of what we’re capable of, especially in the half court,” Monti said.