Yale Gets First Ivy Win in Upset of W. Hoops

Reality is beginning to set in for the Harvard women’s basketball team.

The Crimson finally came out on the winning side of a close game against Brown on Friday night, but the next night Harvard (10-10, 3-4 Ivy) dropped a heartbreaking 62-59 loss to Yale. Halfway through the Ivy season and standing fifth in the league, the Crimson has paid dearly for its weekly dance of one step forward and one step back.

“I think up until this point, we felt like we had a chance to avenge all our losses, and we still do, but having the four losses so early in the season doesn’t bode well for the Ivy title,” co-captain Hana Peljto said.

As the preseason favorite, Harvard was the team to beat with the offense every coach in the league aimed to defend. Now, rather, it is Penn living the undefeated dream season. After bowing under pressure, the Crimson now has the unfamiliar opportunity of playing with nothing to lose.

“We’d rather have that pressure than be where we are now,” co-captain Tricia Tubridy said. “The motivation is definitely a little different, but we get another shot at everybody, and there’s a lot of pride in that. Now we definitely are just playing for ourselves.”

Harvard has the advantage of playing its next four games in friendly Lavietes Pavilion, beginning this weekend with Columbia on Friday and Cornell on Saturday.

YALE 62, HARVARD 59

After mounting an impressive comeback on Friday night, Harvard ran out of time at the John J. Lee Amphitheater on Saturday night. Much to the pleasure of the 500-plus fans at Yale, the Bulldogs (4-17, 1-7) eked out a 62-59 upset for their first league win.

“We came out after basically saying that our intensity wasn’t great,” Peljto said. “It was a complete change from the night before.”

Twelve points were scored in the last minute, as Yale countered every Crimson basket with points from the charity stripe.

Peljto hit a layup with 50 seconds to go, narrowing the deficit to three at 57-54. The Bulldogs answered with a pair of free throws from Bonnie Smith. Harvard again brought the game within a basket with two from sophomore guard Laura Robinson, but Brynn Gingras tallied two more free throws to put the score at 61-56.

Senior point guard Bev Moore finally broke out of the exchange with a three, and Gingras managed only one of the following free throws, giving Harvard a final possession with 12.1 seconds remaining.

The Crimson drew up a play sending the ball to Peljto for the final chance. But Peljto’s shot from behind the arc bounced off the rim, sealing Yale’s first Ivy win.

Peljto knocked down a game-high 22 points, and junior center Reka Cserny and sophomore guard Jess Holsey tallied in the double-digits with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Moore added nine points and nailed three of her four trey attempts.

Though no Bulldog player scored more than 13, four registered in the double digits, including freshman center Erica Davis.

Standing at 6’3, Davis scored 11 points and challenged Harvard’s inside game.

“We knew that Erica Davis, their big girl, was going to give us some problems,” Tubridy said.

Harvard labored to cover all the Yale scorers, but was often beat as the shot clock wound down on its third or fourth defensive rotation.

Additionally, the Crimson struggled with 21 turnovers, a habitual team scourge. Although Yale turned the ball over 22 times, it was Harvard that ultimately paid for the miscues, taking an uncharacteristically low number of shots—46—and hitting only 5 of 16 three-point attempts.

“When we turn the ball over, it affects our confidence and changes the way we play the game,” Tubridy said. “When you go out, and you take shots that aren’t falling for you, everyone tenses up.”

Harvard also got into foul trouble early in the game, with Peljto sitting for a large portion of the first half. Holsey made up the offense, however, scoring all of her 10 points in the first frame, when the Crimson scored only 22 points as a team.

HARVARD 70, BROWN 64

After falling behind 34-26 at halftime, Harvard came back to beat Brown (11-10, 4-4) 70-64 in front of 1,989 fans.

“It was a very big win for us,” Tubridy said. “Friday night it felt good to win that one because we had lost so many close games.”

Though the final margin was six points in the Crimson’s favor, the final minute decided the outcome. After Brown pulled within three points at 67-64, Cserny knocked down a jumper from the elbow for a 69-64 lead and then hit a free throw to seal the win.

Peljto notched 33 points for the contest, and instigated Harvard’s 26-6 comeback run five minutes into the second half. The Crimson’s rally back included threes from Peljto, Cserny, Tubridy and Moore, as Harvard showcased its talent from behind the arc with 6-of-12 shooting in the second.

“We made a huge adjustment at halftime to get more people involved in the offense, stop taking so many quick shots, stop turning the ball over,” Peljto said.

Brown, a team that has had trouble scoring in the past, showed little of that difficulty, as Nyema Mitchell registered 26 points with two more players in double digits.

Cserny demonstrated her defensive proficiency, tallying six steals and three blocks.

“Reka’s always consistent with her defense,” Peljto said. “She gets her hands on a lot of balls and is a defensive presence for us.”

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