W. Hoops Needs One Win For Ticket to Big Dance From Ticket to Big Dance

With one more victory, the Harvard women’s basketball team can clinch the Ivy League title outright and a spot in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

Harvard (19-5, 10-1 Ivy) enters this weekend against Brown (5-20, 2-10) and Yale (14-11, 7-5) riding high on a 10-game winning streak, including victories at both Brown and Yale last month. With its NCAA spot almost secured, the Crimson will be playing primarily for tournament seeding.

“Even though we need only one game to clinch the title, we still feel like we need to win all three games,” sophomore forward Hana Peljto said. “The wins will result in a higher NCAA bid and they will help our confidence coming into the tournament.”

Last weekend, Harvard secured at least a share of the Ivy League title with huge road wins over second-place Cornell and Columbia.

Cornell entered the game as the Crimson’s last challenger in the race for the league title. The Crimson pulled out a 77-75 double-overtime victory behind a breakout performance from freshman forward Reka Cserny, who scored 28 on 9-of-17 shooting.

With the huge double-overtime victory over Cornell, there was some fear that the Crimson might have a letdown against Columbia. Yet the Crimson overcame a 12-point first half deficit to dominate the second half and coast to a 61-49 victory. Cserny complimented her Cornell effort with a game-high 22 and Monti added a career-high 21.

For her efforts last weekend, Cserny received her sixth Ivy League Rookie of the Week award of the season, and make her the most likely candidate for Ivy League Rookie of the Year.

Both of the Crimson’s opponents this weekend are among the more physical teams in the league.

Tonight the Crimson meets up with a surprisingly strong Yale squad riding the momentum of a three-game winning streak. The Bulldogs play a team-style offense analogous to Princeton in the men’s game. Yale’s attack is led by committee as Helene Schutrumpf (10.9 points per game), Lindsay Page (9.4 ppg), Christina Phillips (9.4 ppg ) and Meg Simpson (8.2 ppg, 9.2 rebounds per game) can all put points on the board.

While Harvard has some of the league’s best inside players, it must win the battle on the boards to have a chance for victory. The Bulldogs win games because they limit their opponents’ second-chance opportunities while generating their own. Yale is second only to Harvard in rebounding margin, outrebounding its opponents by over two per game.

The last time Harvard met up with the Yalies, the Crimson needed a furious second-half comeback to secure a 61-57 victory.

“Yale used a three-fourth court zone pressure which we couldn’t handle well at the beginning,” freshman forward Reka Cserny said. “Our passes were too lazy and we didn’t have enough time to set up our offenses.”

This time, the Crimson should be better prepared. Harvard has established multiple scoring threats with Peljto, Cserny and Monti and therefore should be better positioned on the inside.

All season long the Crimson has been led by the dominating inside presence of Peljto. Peljto leads the team in scoring with 20.2 points per game, and in rebounding with 8.9 boards per game.

Tomorrow, the Crimson takes on a Brown team that has struggled through a difficult season. On paper, the Crimson should have no trouble with the undermatched Bears, but Brown did give the Crimson problems in their first meeting.

“Even though Brown’s record might not show it, they’re one of the most physical and athletic teams in the league,” Peljto said. “They didn’t give us an easy game last time we played them, and we expect the same this time around.”

In an ugly first half characterized by poor shooting, the Bears muscled their way to a 24-19 halftime lead. However, a 56 percent second half shooting effort brought the Crimson back into the game, and Harvard pulled away with the 63-51 victory.

Brown is led by the double threat of forwards Rada Pavichevich (12.4 ppg) and Nyema Mitchell (11.6 ppg.) The problem for the Bears is scoring depth, as no other player has the ability to consistently generate points. The Bears also lack outside shooters as they average 39.5 percent field goal shooting, and an anemic 24.9 percent from behind the arc.

With one victory in this weekend’s games the Crimson will punch its ticket to its first NCAA women’s tournament since 1998. The last time Harvard reached the NCAA tournament, a squad led by Allison Feaster ’98 shocked the basketball world, as the Crimson upset Stanford 71-67 in the first victory for a 16 seed in NCAA tournament history.