Cserny, W. Hoops Hold Off Wagner

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.—With its lead pared down to four from its original 14, the Harvard women’s basketball team appeared to be in trouble with 40 seconds remaining Thursday night. The momentum was on Wagner’s side, the Crimson seemed to be fading and the Seahawks’ hot hand of the night was about to launch yet another three-pointer.

But this shot would never make it beyond the arc. Harvard junior Tricia Tubridy batted the shot straight up in the air and as it fell harmlessly to the ground, the Crimson regained possession of both the ball and the game, moving on to win 69-63.

Harvard (6-3) won despite the absence of junior forward Hana Peljto, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, who sprained the medial collateral ligament (MCL) in her left leg during the squad’s loss to BC last Sunday.

“It’s much different without [Hana],” said sophomore center Reka Cserny. “She runs the floor really well and usually she draws two defensive players to her.”

Cserny filled the void for the Crimson, pushing Wagner’s low-post players around with ease all evening. The Seahawks (2-5) used a three-guard set that left Cserny with a favorable match-up each time down the floor.

And she seemed to capitalize just as often.

Cserny tied career-highs with 33 points and seven steals and hauled down eight rebounds, including five on the offensive glass. She also blocked four shots and handed out two assists in her 39 minutes.

“We asked her to step up,” said Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith. “We were looking for rebounding from her, but she was blocking shots, stealing the ball. She actually played more last year like that and the injury hasn’t allowed her to play like that this year.”

Consistent from all over the hardwood, the center was 11-for-16 from the floor, 2-for-3 on trifectas and 9-for-11 from the charity stripe, including seven in a row as the game drew to an end.

Cserny’s strong performance early—she had 19 first-half points—allowed Harvard to maintain a lead of at least 10 points through the final five and a half minutes of the first half.

Her golden touch mirrored that of the rest of the Crimson squad, which lit up the scoreboard during the first half.

Midway through the first period, Harvard’s shooting percentage hovered above 80 percent. As the teams headed for the locker room, the Crimson had made 62.1 percent of its shots. Wagner, on the other hand, was held to 28.6 percent shooting.

Captain Kate Ides chipped in 10 points to provide a viable second offensive option, while also collecting three boards.

Sophomore Rochelle Bell dished out a team-high five assists and added seven points.

The second half, though, was not nearly as pleasant as the first.

“We’re not a 60 percent shooting team,” Delaney-Smith said. “We had to come back to earth. I think Reka was part of that [first-half] accuracy and they doubled her.”

Harvard’s offensive output took a nosedive in the second frame, as the Crimson posted 11 fewer points and sunk only eight of 30 attempted shots.

Heightened defensive pressure forced Harvard’s shooters to settle for longer-range shots and they didn’t fall nearly as frequently.

The Crimson was plagued by turnovers yet again Thursday, giving the ball away on 25 occasions. Those miscues led to 15 Wagner points.

“I thought when we try to be too quick, we [turn the ball over],” Delaney-Smith said. “I have to credit Wagner’s scrappy defense. I think we have a bad habit of getting sloppy with the ball and relaxing.”

Harvard continues its New York road trip Saturday, when the Crimson crosses the river and heads to New Brunswick, N.J., to take on Rutgers.

--Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.