BU Scorches W. Hoops

Poor defense by the Harvard women’s basketball team and solid long-range shooting by Boston University combined to sink the Crimson 93-77 last night at Lavietes Pavilion.

“We didn’t play any kind of defense,” senior point guard Jenn Monti said.

The action started out sloppy, with both teams exchanging more turnovers than buckets.

Harvard alone turned the ball over 17 times in the first half. Sophomore Hana Peljto put the ball on the floor three times, while Monti seemed to have difficulty with the BU press up front. She had six turnovers in the half.

“Monti’s a veteran point guard. She’s got to handle it better than she did,” Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “She had six turnovers in the first half—we’re not going to win games like that.”

The Crimson managed to stay in the game in the first half, though, only going in to the locker room down 44-39.

Peljto led the way in the first half, scoring 13 points and picking up seven rebounds. As a team, Harvard shot 60 percent from the field in the opening frame.

But BU expanded its lead into double digits early in the second half, and never looked back. Terrier guard Alison Argentieri hit three-of-three three-point attempts in the second half, while forward Katie Terhune recovered from a slow start by getting to the free-throw line. The Crimson’s porous defense allowed Terhune 10 shots from the stripe, and she converted all of them, finishing with 20 points.

After storming out to a 20-9 run to start the half, BU faltered slightly when the Crimson started the full-court press. Harvard’s newest starter, freshman center Reka Cserny, took advantage of Terrier turnovers to score seven straight points, finishing the night with 13.

The closest the Crimson ever pushed the deficit was to 11 points with five minutes left in the game. But the Terriers’ hot hand responded every time Harvard scored. Argentieri and forward Dia Dufault especially kept stifling Crimson comeback attempts with long-range bombs.

Argentieri finished with 25 points, while four other teammates had double-digit finishes as well.

“They made the passes they wanted,” Delaney-Smith said. “That made the shots look easy.”

Harvard finished the game with 23 turnovers, and it was another tough night for Monti, who had nine turnovers in last Friday’s season opener against Wagner.

“I feel personally responsible for [the turnovers] in some way, but in other ways as a team we didn’t respond well,” Monti said.

The Crimson hung around defensively much better in the second half, but 38.5-percent shooting from the field—including only 5-of-18 from three-point range—led to the final of 93-77.

“We’re not going to win if we give up 93 points again, no way,” Monti said.

While both Delaney-Smith and Monti said they were disappointed with the team’s shaky defensive performance and overall lack of intensity, other indicators pointed in the right direction.

Backup guards Dirkje Dunham and Rochelle Bell both showed signs that they were ready for more serious minutes. Dunham played half the game and hit a three-pointer, while Bell—a freshman—launched up treys with no fear. The freshman chipped in four steals in 10 minutes of action.

Peljto—the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year—shot well despite turning the ball over, and Cserny is turning into the type of player Harvard hoped for with her second straight double-digit scoring performance.

“We’ll be fine,” Monti said of Harvard. The Crimson was picked to finish first in the Ivy League in the preseason media poll.

The team’s next event is this weekend at Fairfield, Conn. Harvard will face Fairfield, Villanova and Quinnipiac in the Fairfield Invitational.