Monti Sets Assist Record in W. Hoops Win

Harvard’s tag team duo of Reka Cserny and Hana Pejlto were winners once again as the Crimson women cagers stormed through Colgate on their way to a 80-67 win last night.

In the winning effort, senior guard Jenn Monti dished out nine assists to push her career total to 486 and break the all-time Harvard assist record, formerly held by Jessica Gelman ’97 with 485.

Pejlto tallied her fifth double-double this season with 27 points and 12 rebounds while Cserny racked up 21 points and 12 boards.

The Raiders (9-12) kept the score close through much of the game until an 11-0 Crimson run with 5:30 to go in the second half sealed the victory for Harvard (11-5).

“The game was close in large part because we were rusty coming off exams,” Monti said. “Yet our ability to pull away so late in the game is a testament to the conditioning work we’ve been putting in.”

Harvard used quick hands and good ball control to pull out the victory. Led by Pejlto and Cserny’s three steals apiece, the Crimson collected 11 steals while only committing 11 turnovers.

One blemish on the Harvard victory was poor free throw shooting. The Crimson shot just 45 percent from the charity stripe after coming into the contest with a 77.2 conversion rate, third best in the nation.

“I think our poor free throw shooting might have had something to do with the strange setting that was reminiscent of a high school gym,” Monti said. “Moreover, it was very uncharachterisitc considering the series of good practices we had leading into the game.”

The Crimson’s three-point shooting also faltered against the Raiders. On a night where the Crimson shot an impressive 54 percent from the field, Harvard could only connect on 2-of-13 three pointers.

At the half, the game was knotted at 37 and the game remained close until the 5:30 mark in the second half. With both teams at 62, the Crimson exploded for an 11-point run to pull away from the Raiders. Peljto accounted for seven of those 11 points. The Raiders were only able to muster five points the rest of the game.

Coming off a long exam period, the Crimson seemed rusty and took some time to adjust to game speed.

“Over a long break, the game timing can be lost, so playing a nonleague game can be a good way for us to get back our rythym,” said sophomore Tricia Tubridy. “It makes going back into Ivy League play a bit easier.”

Next up for the Crimson will be road games against Brown and Yale.

The Bears have struggled this season, coming into Friday’s game with a 1-3 Ivy record. Yale boasts a slightly better record at 2-2.

Cserny, who was a big contributer against Colgate last night, sustained an ankle injury during the game and is questionable for this weekend’s games.

“We obviously would rather have Reka play, but in the event she can’t, I think the team reacts well to injuries,” Tubridy said. “I need to pick up my rebounds and scoring, but even if no one comes up with an outstanding game, we should fare well with a couple of additional solid performances.”