Bulldogs Dropped in First-Place Showdown

The Harvard women’s basketball team entered Friday night’s game against Yale looking to avenge its only Ivy League loss from 2007 and move out of a four-way tie for first place in the 2008 Ivy League standings. The Crimson succeeded in doing just that by beating Yale 65-55 at Lavietes Pavilion, in a game Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith described as “messy, messy, messy.”

Most of the game was played at a frenetic pace, giving the crowd little time to breathe. And the memory of last year’s matchup as well as some questionable referee decisions made sure that there was plenty of emotion coming from the Crimson players and staff.

Yet, very early on, this Harvard passion seemed to be missing. The Crimson (11-8, 4-1 Ivy) got off to a slow start and struggled to find any offensive rhythm, finding itself down, 5-2, five minutes into the game. After Delaney-Smith called a timeout it was clear that from then on there was only going to be one team in contention for the win.

“She told us to pick up our intensity,” junior Emily Tay said. “We all know what that means so she doesn’t have to scream at us anymore. We are a veteran team and we know how to step it up.”

Harvard certainly picked up the pace, going on a 22-8 run following the timeout. Suddenly the Bulldogs (5-13, 3-2) had no way of slowing down the Crimson offense.

Freshman Emma Markley came off the bench to lead all scorers with 14 points in 16 minutes. She made the first seven shots she took, but had little explanation for her career night.

“I guess I was just on fire,” she said.

Unsurprised by her massive effect on the game, Delaney-Smith could find only niceties for her freshman forward.

“She has that ability and she’s learning real fast,” Delaney-Smith said of Markley. “She’s an incredible athlete and is pretty tough to stop one-on-one.”

Harvard went into the break leading 30-21, but Yale closed the gap early in the second half. Melissa Colborne helped cut the lead to four just a few minutes past the interval, but that was as close as the Bulldogs would get. The Yale sophomore—last year’s Ivy League Rookie of the Year—finished with 13 points, seven of which came from the line.

Throughout the night the Crimson players and coaching staff felt as if they were playing against both the Yale team and the referee squad.

“The erratic calls got under our skin,” Delaney-Smith said. “Yale was allowed to be very physical where we got called for touch fouls.”

Despite Harvard always looking the better team, the Bulldogs hung around until the very end.

A big three from junior Niki Finelli put the Crimson up by 10 with just over four minutes to play, but the Bulldogs refused to go away. With the lead down to five with 90 seconds remaining, an athletic reverse layup by Tay, followed by eight free throws, helped ice the game.

As usual, Tay helped push the pace for Harvard. The biggest cheer of the night came with seven minutes left when she hit Katie Rollins with a behind-the-back pass for an easy layup.

The two juniors put in solid contributions in the win. Tay finished with 12 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, and five steals, while Rollins added 11 points and seven boards.

In such a high-paced game, the Crimson players and staff were happy with the way they battled.

“We’re the team to beat and we handled the pressure [tonight],” Delaney-Smith said.

—Staff writer Jay M. Cohen can be reached at jaycohen@fas.harvard.edu.