Peljto Named Ivy Player of the Year

Junior forward Hana Peljto was unanimously selected as the women’s basketball Ivy League Player of the year, the league announced yesterday. Sophomore center Reka Cserny took First Team honors, and junior forward Tricia Tubridy earned Second Team accolades.

With Peljto’s second consecutive Player of the Year honor, she joins Allison Feaster ’98 in receiving the award in consecutive years. Peljto led the league in both scoring (21.5 points per game) and rebounding (9.8 rebounds per game).

Cserny is also a repeat on the First Team, in addition to grabbing league Rookie of the Year honors last year. Though Cserny was Harvard’s second leading scorer (14.4 ppg) and led both the Crimson and the league in steals (2.54 pg), she was still unsure of why her teammates were applauding her when she got to practice yesterday.

“It was funny because I was late for practice and I came out from the locker room and they started to clap,” Cserny said. “First I thought they were clapping because I’d finally arrived, then [Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith] told me that I got it.”

If Tubridy’s all-around game wasn’t confirmed by her triple-double against Brown on Feb. 7—the first in Harvard program history—then her being the only player in the Ivies to be in the top 10 in rebounding (sixth at 7.2 rpg), assists (sixth at 3.2 apg) and three-point shooting (third at 39.4 percent) did the trick. Tubridy cites this year’s lineup as partly responsible for her offensive success, as the absence of former point guard Jenn Monti ’02 called for experience on the front court.

“I think the change in personnel made a difference,” Tubridy said. “The three of us [Peljto, Cserny, Tubridy] had more experience with the offense, so I just got to do more with the ball.”

The team now awaits the NCAA Selection Show, broadcasted on ESPN on Sunday at 5 p.m., to learn of its tournament fate.