Cserny Dominant at Wagner

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.—With its original 14-point lead pared down to four, the Harvard women’s basketball team appeared to be in trouble with 40 seconds remaining Dec. 19. 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 the Crimson regained possession of both the ball and the game, moving on to win, 69-63.

Harvard won despite the absence of junior forward Hana Peljto, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, who sprained the medial collateral ligament in her left leg during the squad’s loss to BC Dec. 15.

“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 off 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.”

Cserny has been recovering from a sprained ankle suffered during preseason.

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 double-digit lead throughout 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, shot only 28.6 percent.

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

“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.”

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

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

Still, captain Kate Ides chipped in 10 points on the night to provide a viable second offensive option, while also collecting three boards.

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

The Crimson was plagued by turnovers yet again, 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.”

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