W. Hoops Downs Dartmouth

The Harvard women’s basketball team was in the zone on Saturday night—and it didn’t bother the Crimson players one bit.

Harvard (8-4, 1-0 Ivy) capitalized on aggressive defense as the Crimson beat host Dartmouth (5-6, 0-1) 56-53 in its Ivy opener.

“I think this is some of the best zone defense we have played this year,” said captain Kate Ides. “The zone was able to crowd the paint as well as place significant pressure on their outside shot.”

Sophomore center Reka Cserny led Harvard scoring with 15 points while junior forward Hana Peljto marked her return from an MCL sprain with 14 points.

The Crimson took a 24-19 lead at halftime, but the Big Green rallied to tie the game four times in the second frame.

Harvard held its biggest lead of the game with 16:35 remaining at 33-25 on a layup from junior guard Bev Moore. Dartmouth came within three on a 7-2 run with 14:43 left and tied the game 36-36 at 13:08.

The Crimson and the Big Green battled back and forth throughout the half, culminating with 3:12 remaining and the teams tied 51-51. Five free throws, three from Peljto and two from Cserny, secured the 56-53 victory for Harvard.

After missing three games due to her knee injury, Peljto’s presence was a welcome impact.

“It makes such a big difference when [Peljto] is on the court because you know that she’s going to get the rebounds, she’s going to put it back up and even if they double her, she can score over the defense,” Cserny said.

In spite of the Peljto and Cserny’s success on the scoreboard, however, the Crimson offense is still suffering from turnovers woes.

“We had the same problem that we were really aggressive on defense, and we couldn’t relax on offense,” Cserny said.

Harvard’s attempts to increase defensive intensity have inadvertently translated into frantic play on offense, resulting in high turnover numbers, such as the 20 dropped to Dartmouth.

“We have to use the time more, play more when we are up,” Cserny said.

The Crimson utilized its depth to keep its floor fresh, a key goal for the season, and nine players collected over 10 minutes against the Big Green.

“It you pressure a team for 40 minutes, everyone needs more breaks,” Cserny said.

Dartmouth gets a second crack at Harvard this weekend when the Crimson hosts its home Ivy opener. One goal will be to better contain standout forward Katherine Hanks, who tallied 19 points for the Big Green.

“Even if she scored 19 points, she didn’t dominate the game,” Cserny said. “But that’s why they could stay close to us—when they needed it, she scored.”

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