Hot Shooting in Freezing Weather

Just when it seemed as if the Harvard women’s basketball team was starting to find a way to win late in games, the Crimson proved it still has work to do before its Ivy League title defense begins next month.

Harvard turned in a sloppy defensive effort, allowing two Catamounts to reach 20 points in an 80-64 loss yesterday at Patrick Gymnasium in Burlington, Vt. It was the Crimson’s worst defensive performance since its season opener, when it surrendered 89 points to James Madison in a 16-point loss.

“Our defensive breakdowns were inexplicable,” coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “They don’t have a very complicated system; we just got caught watching the ball. This was a complete surprise to me—I never expected this from this team.”

For starters, the Crimson couldn’t stop Catamounts guard Amy Rosenkrantz, who scored a game-high 22 points on torrid 8-for-11 shooting. The junior added five rebounds, three assists, and three steals to her line.

May Kotsopoulos chipped in 20 points and sophomore Courtnay Pilypaitis racked up 11 points and 11 assists. Harvard had targeted the 6’1 point guard in its preparation for Vermont last week, but Pilypaitis managed to find her teammates—most often, Rosenkrantz—for easy opportunities.

“[Rosenkrantz] wasn’t really a key for us, and a lot of her points came from fast-break opportunities,” co-captain Lindsay Hallion said. “It wasn’t really one scorer for us—we just couldn’t stay with them in transition.”

“[Rosenkrantz] had a big night because we had several different matchups, but everyone just let her get straight to the basket,” Delaney-Smith said. “They weren’t beating us down the floor, we just didn’t play defense once we got there.”

Hallion had another solid all-around performance for the Crimson, turning in 13 points, five rebounds, and five assists with only two turnovers from the point guard position. Junior Niki Finelli led the squad with 16 points on 4-for-6 shooting from beyond the arc.

A three-pointer from Finelli cut Vermont’s lead to nine with 8:24 to play, and the score remained at 62-53 for nearly two minutes before Pilypaitis made a layup with 6:48 left. Harvard never cut the lead back to single digits.

Delaney-Smith’s search for consistent production from her front line continues. Freshman Lisa Harchut was a pleasant surprise with seven rebounds in the first eight minutes of her collegiate career, but starting forwards Katie Rollins and Adrian Budischak contributed just four points apiece. Junior center Emma Moretzsohn scored six points, but grabbed just two rebounds in 10 minutes of action.

“Our guards take most of our shots, and our forwards either need to get more shots or finish more shots,” Delaney-Smith said. “We need a balanced attack—they’re very talented, but our forwards need to step up and do a better job.”

The Crimson kept pace with Vermont in the first half, shooting above 40 percent for the period to head into the locker room down by only five points. But first-half free-throw shooting was a problem once again for Harvard, which made just two of eight freebies in the opening frame of its 78-64 loss to Providence on Dec. 5 at Lavietes Pavilion.

“We played pretty poorly in the first half, but were still able to compete,” Finelli said. “But we played their game, let them set the tempo. It felt as if we were reacting to their game, and that’s where things fell apart.”

Hallion points to certain intangibles as the areas in which the Crimson has to improve.

“We need to play with more confidence, almost a cockiness,” Hallion said. “We’re borderline confident at times, but need to exude that throughout the game. When you have that confidence, everyone feels better, plays better, and has more fun.”

Harvard flirted with regaining the lead in the first few minutes of the second half, when Rollins made a fast-break layup and Hallion added a layup of her own on the next possession. But the Catamounts’ Nicole Trott converted a three-point play, and Kotsopoulos followed with a quick basket to push the lead back to seven.

The Crimson resumes play tomorrow night when it hosts Holy Cross at Lavietes at 7 p.m.

—Staff writer Emily W. Cunningham can be reached at ecunning@fas.harvard.edu.