Reeling Crimson Outfoxed by Marist

A strong second half between the blocks and a late surge proved too much for the Harvard women’s basketball team last night, as the reeling Crimson (1-9) fell to Marist (8-2) by a score of 74-68 in front of a sparse crowd at Lavietes Pavilion.

Things stayed close all game, but Red Fox freshman Rachele Fitz’s career high 26 points—20 in the second half—could not be overcome by Harvard.

“Us not being able to make that kind of adjustment turned out to bite us,” Crimson coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said of Fitz’s second half performance. “She’s just a player who works really hard. We have to make it tough for her before she gets the ball, which we did not do.”

Marist opened up a seven-point lead in the second half’s first six minutes on the heels of a 13-8 run keyed by what seemed like the entire Marist roster. Harvard struggled to respond, as the team could not put together any consistency on offense thanks to foul trouble for sophomore center Katie Rollins and co-captain Christiana Lackner. It wasn’t for lack of effort, though—bodies flew on a number of occasions, and the contest saw no less than four jump balls.

“It’s always something different, unfortunately for us,” Delaney-Smith said. “We played hard enough to win, but you don’t let one player score 20 points in a half.”

The Crimson threatened with about 11 minutes left in the game, when sophomore Liz Tindal nailed a crowd-rousing three-pointer from the corner to bring Harvard within 50-47. A minute later, Finelli responded with a three of her own to bring the game to a 50-50 tie. The next possession saw Rollins earn the Crimson its first lead of the second half at 52-50.

From then on, however, it was Fitz’s time to shine. She also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds in the win, shooting 11-of-21 from the field in only 23 minutes of work.

“We didn’t make any game adjustments on her,” said guard Lindsay Hallion, who led all Harvard scorers with 16 points and also chipped in a team-high five assists. “That’s not the responsibility of the post. I think the guards need to take some of the blame for that. We have to double down on her, so it’s not just one-on-one.”

The game was close for most of the first half, with the Red Foxes going up by as much as nine in the contest’s first six minutes. The Crimson stormed back, however, thanks to the inside play of Rollins and a flurry of buckets from sophomore forward Niki Finelli and Hallion. Harvard took a brief 24-22 lead more than midway through the half on a coast-to-coast jumper from Hallion, and both teams traded points for the remainder of the first 20 minutes.

“At times we were a little inconsistent,” Hallion said, “but except for maybe a few possessions, we played really hard.”

The Crimson struggled on the offensive glass late in the half, losing the offensive rebound battle 12-6 in the first frame. The advantage was especially apparent on a sequence with less than five minutes to go, when Marist earned four attempts on a single possession.

The Red Foxes failed to capitalize on the extra opportunities, however, and just barely maintained a 34-32 advantage entering the intermission. Rollins led Harvard with seven points at halftime, while co-captain Christiana Lackner paced the Crimson with four rebounds. Finelli, sophomore point guard Emily Tay and Hallion each scored six in the first frame. Rollins and Tay finished with 15 and 14 points, respectively.

Next up for Harvard is a Thursday night home clash with crosstown rival Northeastern. Start time is scheduled for 7 p.m.

“It’s wicked important to [to play well against Northeastern],” Hallion said. “That’s about pride. We didn’t get it when we played BU, so that would be a big thing for pride and confidence.”

—Staff writer Malcom A. Glenn can be reached at mglenn@fas.harvard.edu.