Gopher Pressure, Turnovers Plague W. Hoops

With 9:15 remaining in the first half, the Harvard women’s basketball team was two points away from the lead. Junior guard Bev Moore had sunk a three-pointer that narrowed Minnesota’s edge to 26-24.

The Crimson had plowed back from an early deficit and Harvard’s chance to shine on a national scale had arrived.

And then it passed.

The Golden Gophers went on a 18-2 drive in the next six minutes, as the Crimson committed three turnovers and a foul while allowing No. 12 Minnesota two steals.

Harvard’s 27 turnovers played a key role in the 82-58 loss, as Minnesota scored 34 points off of turnovers. The Gophers turned the ball over 17 times, but these mistakes were countered by their 17 steals.

Minnesota point guard Lindsay Whalen grabbed six steals, including two in the final six minutes of the game.

“We were supposed to not let [Whalen] have as many steals as she had,” said Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith. “That’s one of the things that upset me the most—allowing those steals.”

The Crimson suffered as the Gophers capitalized on long, errant passes and poor ball protection, often ending in a Minnesota breakaway layup.

During a three-minute span in the second half, the Gophers racked up five steals, as Harvard’s game became a bit frantic under the Minnesota pressure.

The Crimson has to expect the same kind of press from No. 22 Boston College next Sunday. The Eagles were at yesterday’s game and saw the success the Gophers reaped.

“We have to make an adjustment on the floor regarding entry passes, regarding handling the pressure, regarding handling teams that are up in the passing lanes,” Delaney-Smith said.

Swallowed by a Whalen

Harvard knew what it was getting from Whalen, a Third-Team All-American and a candidate for the Naismith Player of the Year Award. The Crimson had a chance to scout the Gophers as both teams played at UNC in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year.

“She’s great, that’s what I said to my team all week,” Delaney-Smith said. “She has the ball 75 percent of the time. She’s one of the best players in the country, so why you think you can isolate one-on-one—you can’t. You have to have a team effort to stop a player of that caliber.”

Though Whalen was only on the floor for 24 minutes, she still tallied a game-high 25 points. The Big Ten Player of the Week created space in the paint, broke through double teams and made contested layups look easy as she led her team to victory.

“We couldn’t really stop her today,” Peljto said. “She’s very calm. She knows what she’s doing at all times.”

“We allowed her to do heroic things today,” Delaney-Smith said.

Whalen spent quite a bit of her time on the floor literally on the floor, as she was repeatedly fouled and knocked down, even stepped on by a teammate. One such incident occurred with 1:46 left in the first half, as Whalen scored and then somersaulted out of bounds as she was fouled. She made the free throw, and finished the day 5-for-5 from behind the charity stripe.

Harvard’s strategy for dealing with the prolific point guard did not work out as anticipated.

“We would try to contain her and then we wanted a double [team],” Delaney-Smith said. “She’d sometimes drive and I thought you could take the charge. Katie Murphy did it, Reka tried. I think you can take the charge and rotate to where she’s going to push the ball. That was what we were supposed to be doing. We were late in our rotation, we were late to taking the charge and I don’t know why because that was our game plan.”

Double Trouble

In Harvard’s two games against ranked opposition, only Peljto and sophomore Reka Cserny have managed to crack double-digits in scoring. Against Vanderbilt, Peljto put up 15 points and Cserny added 12, though Cserny did not score until four minutes into the second frame.

Against Northeastern last Wednesday, Cserny and Peljto notched 24 points apiece, but only Peljto has been able to maintain her high production against better teams.

“Hana will not accept that someone is stopping her,” Delaney-Smith said. “She’s not allowed to be part of our offense without an immediate double. So, she works really hard in other ways to score, mostly rebounding, mostly running the floor. She’s developed a great outside shot.”

The fact that no other Crimson player besides Peljto could sustain offensive momentum stood out even further compared to the five Gophers that reached double figures.

Minnesota’s Janel McCarville used her 6’2 stature well, scoring 10 points off the bench and grabbing seven rebounds. The Gophers also benefitted from their 6’1 center Kim Prince, who knocked in 16 points. Two of her baskets were shot over the 6’3 Cserny.

“[Minnesota] had some pretty athletic forwards who would jump-shoot us,” Delaney-Smith said. “There were times where our defense was fine and they were just shooting over us. You have to live with that. Maybe work harder, don’t let them get the ball, hit them with a double team—we tried to do that.”

Moore than a Feeling

Moore didn’t bat an eye when Harvard’s rotation left her guarding Minnesota’s Kadidja Anderson. A few of the fans, however, may have, as the 5’2 Moore made somewhat of an odd couple when matched with the 5’11 Anderson.

“[Moore] was rotating down and everyone’s like, ‘Rotate inside.’ It doesn’t really matter where Bev rotates—nothing is going to work there,” Delaney-Smith said.

But her stature was the only small aspect of Moore’s game yesterday. The eagerly-awaited transfer from Lousiana Tech, who was forced to sit out last season, proved that she was worth the wait.

Moore was Harvard’s third-highest scorer with nine points, and she also added two steals in addition to her on-the-ball excellence.

“I think Beverly had a great showing,” Delaney-Smith said.

—Staff writer Jessica T. Lee can be reached at lee45@fas.harvard.edu.

No. 12 MINNESOTA 92, W. HOOPS 68

MINNESOTA (7-0) Von Wald 5-8 5-5 15, Andersson 2-5 0-0 4, Prince 7-10 2-2 16, Whalen 10-13 5-5 25, Lieser 2-4 0-0 6, McCarville 7-10 0-0 14, Schonrock 0-4 0-0 0, Hill 0-2 2-4 2, Bolden 1-4 0-0 2, Gilbert 2-3 2-2 6, Nelson 0-0 0-0 0, Collison 0-0 2-3 2. Totals 36-63 18-21 92.

HARVARD (4-2) Moore 3-5 2-2 9, Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Ides 3-3 1-2 8, Cserny 5-11 0-0 13, Tubridy 3-4 1-2 8, Holsey 2-10 1-1 5, Bell 0-2 0-0 0, Dunham 0-1 0-0 0, Peljto 9-14 3-5 23, Murphy 0-0 0-0 0, McCaffery 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 26-54 8-12 68.

Halftime—Minnesota 51-30. Three-Point goals—Minnesota 2-8 (Lieser 2-4, Whalen 0-1, Bolden 0-1, Schonrock 0-2), Harvard 8-19 (Cserny 3-5, Peljto 2-2, Ides 1-1, Tubridy 1-1, Moore 1-2, Dunham 0-1, McCaffery 0-1, Bell 0-2, Holsey 0-4). Fouled out—None. Rebounds—Minnesota 32 (McCarville 7), Harvard 26 (Peljto 9). Assists—Minnesota 18 (Schonrock 5), Harvard 18 (Tubridy 5). Total fouls—Minnesota 14, Harvard 16. Attendance—425.