Crimson Pounces on Big Red, Sweeps Season Series

Whatever it is, something about that halftime buzzer and the retreat to the locker room flips a switch for the Harvard women’s basketball team.

Yet another second half surge, this one spurred on by the Crimson bench, led Harvard to a 78-69 win in Ithaca and a season sweep of the Big Red on Friday.

The Crimson reserves exploded for 28 second-half points as Harvard erased a nine-point halftime deficit and overcame Cornell’s torrid shooting from beyond the arc.

“We’ve got to get ourselves motivated and refocused when we’re not playing up to par in the first half,” freshman forward Katie Rollins said. “We came out really strong in the second half and, this weekend especially, we played with a lot of pride.”

Cornell nailed five first-half three pointers, including two in 16 seconds to push a three-point lead to nine with 8:27 to play. A slew of uncharacteristic turnovers and cold shooting sent Harvard to an early disadvantage.

After a seesaw battle in the opening minutes, the Big Red opened up a 31-16 lead on a 16-2 run punctuated by a Katie Fitzsimmons three-pointer and a pair of free throws from freshman standout Jeomi Maduka.

Fitzsimmons continued with the hot hand, finishing 7-of-10 from the arc and a game-high 23 points.

“We were having a little bit of a hard time converting, getting a little bit ahead of ourselves,” Rollins said. “We were starting to rush when things weren’t going our way instead of just focusing on converting and getting some points up on the board.”

The Crimson’s Laura Robinson, however, took the offensive reins in the final four minutes, pouring in six points and adding a steal and an assist to jumpstart the stalling Harvard offense.

That surge to end the first half was but the harbinger of more bad news for the Big Red, whose defense could never quite keep up with the Crimson’s speed on the perimeter and muscle in the paint.

Harvard, which at best has been inconsistent on the glass this year, dominated an athletic Cornell team on the boards. The Big Red, with a high-flying low-post rebounder in Maduka and a corps of guards that has rebounded well from the perimeter, still lost the battle of the boards, 43-30.

“Rebounding is effort and how much you want it,” Tay said. “After halftime we got a little motivational speech [and] got yelled at—and we went out there strong and got the rebounds.”

As has been the case for much of the Ivy season, the second half belonged to those in Crimson—and this time, the second half explosion cooled Cornell’s outside arsenal and warmed up the Harvard nets.

The Crimson shot a blistering 62.5 percent from the field in the second half, paced by freshman guard Niki Finelli’s 12 second-half points.

“She’s an amazing shooter, and she makes plays for herself,” freshman guard Emily Tay said. “When we get her the ball, she’ll make it.”

Finelli, Harvard’s most viable three-point threat off the bench, is fast becoming the Crimson’s key reserve in the second half. After a 16-point performance in a 66-61 loss at Brown, Finelli matched that effort with another 16 against the Big Red. Her two big three-pointers—one to cut the Cornell lead to two with 12:13 remaining and yet another as part of an 11-0 Harvard run—added the exclamation point to a triumphant comeback.

Robinson also added 16 points, including eight points in the final 3:40 to seal the win for the Crimson, and sophomore guard Lindsay Hallion reached double figures on 5-of-11 shooting to finish with 10 points.

—Staff writer Aidan E. Tait can be reached at atait@fas.harvard.edu.