First-Half Struggles Lead to Split

When the Harvard women’s basketball team finally found its shooting touch at the USF Shootout this past weekend, things started looking up. If the Crimson (1-1) wants to win close games, though, it will have to find its groove earlier: trouble scoring in the first half buried Harvard on Friday and nearly did so again yesterday.

Facing a double-digit halftime deficit Friday evening against Loyola (1-1) in the tourney’s first round, the Crimson chipped away throughout the second half but eventually fell 78-69. It took a 44-point second half explosion for the Crimson to put away Central Connecticut State (0-2), 70-63, in the consolation game yesterday.

“Our start both games was extremely disappointing,” co-captain Niki Finelli said. “We need to be able to go for a full 40 minutes, and that’s something we need to work on individually and collectively.”

The weekend was a coming-out party for fresh faces in key roles for Harvard. Freshman Brogan Berry made her collegiate debut at the point, and sophomore Emma Markley started her first games in a Harvard uniform. Both impressed, as Berry filled up at the stat sheet and scored 15 points yesterday in the consolation game, while Markley put up double figures in both contests and turned in a monster game yesterday with 27 points and 12 boards.

“It’s nice that we’re going through this whole ‘first time’ thing together,” Markley said of Berry.

“We just had to get out those first game jitters,” she added. “It was something that took over a game to do, and unfortunately it took over a game to do.”

HARVARD 70, CCSU 63

Markley shot 13-for-17 from the field to pace the Crimson to its first win on the young season. After CCSU began the game on an 8-0 run, Harvard would need all the firepower it could get.

The Crimson recovered nicely in the first half, getting six straight points from Markley (14 points at the break) and heading to the locker room down only five.

“We rely on her, but we have to do a better job as a team so we don’t rely so heavily on her,” Finelli said. “She was one of our only weapons on the boards this weekend.”

Harvard turned on the jets after halftime, shooting a blistering 46 percent from the floor in the second frame en route to 44 points and the win. A layup from senior forward Katie Rollins tied things up at 36 with just over 16 to play, and co-captain Emily Tay’s jumper at the 8:47 mark gave the Crimson a lead it would not relinquish.

When a three-pointer from the Blue Devils’ Gabrielle Oglesby (15 points) cut the lead to two, Markley responded with back-to-back layups and free throws from Berry, Tay, and sophomore Christina Matera made it official.

LOYOLA 78, HARVARD 69

A lackluster shooting effort gave away the good comeback chance the Crimson had Saturday. Down 43-31 at halftime of the first-round game, the Crimson needed some of the efficient offense it would get after the break in yesterday’s win. It came in spurts, but it took a while—Loyola’s second-half lead ballooned to 14 on a three-pointer by Meredith Tolley with 12:13 to play.

From then on, Harvard chipped away. A three-minute run in the middle of the period saw the Crimson hold the Greyhounds scoreless, and consecutive layups from Finelli, Markley, and Tay (five assists, five steals, and a team-high 16 points) whittled the lead down to five. The deficit was as little as one point after Rollins made one of two free throws with 2:15 remaining, but it was too little, too late—a Loyola run, punctuated by yet another Tolley basket from three, sealed the deal as the clock wound down.

The Crimson shot just 3-for-17 from downtown on the afternoon, and after making eight of nine free throws in the first half missed seven big ones after the break.

“Offensively we have a lot of weapons, but sometimes we get too caught up in trying to make too many things happen instead of letting the game come to us,” Finelli said. “Our focus needs to be on the defensive end and working as a team to make things run from there.”

In her first collegiate appearance, Berry started and had nine points and 10 boards in 30 minutes.

“She’s just above and beyond our expectations coming in,” Finelli said. “She has a natural leadership ability that makes her a role model even as a freshman. She’s going to be integral to our success.”

“I didn’t sense any nervousness at all from her,” Markley added.

Harvard returns to action Thursday evening at Holy Cross. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Worcester.

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