Harvard Avoids Northeastern Upset in OT Victory

With no time left in regulation and only a few hours left in 2008, the Harvard women’s basketball team (8-6) found itself tied with crosstown rival Northeastern, 67-67 on New Year’s Eve. But the Crimson vowed to end 2008 triumphantly and defeated Northeastern (3-8) in overtime, 78-72.

“I think that for us, especially in overtime, we were focused on making sure that each possession was valuable, taking care of the basketball, and playing big defensively,” co-captain Niki Finelli said. “I think when our focus shifted to defense, our offense followed, and that is what allowed us to get out in front in overtime.”

The Crimson entered overtime play with grim determination. It scored the first seven points of the stanza to pull ahead, 76-74.

The Huskies refused to lay down without a fight, and promptly dropped a three-pointer with only three minutes left on the clock to bring them within two possessions of a win, 74-70.

Then with less than 50 seconds left, freshman Brogan Berry hit two critical free-throws for Harvard to push the Crimson lead to 76-70. The Huskies’ next possession yielded two points, once again bringing them within four. But with 31 seconds left, Northeastern fouled Emily Tay, who made both of her shots to put the game out of reach at its final score of 78-72.

“I thought Northeastern played very well,” Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “They are a young team. We knew in spite of their record they were dangerous because it’s a lot of freshmen, and a lot of why they have not been able to win I think is inexperience, so they are getting better each game.”

The Huskies’ came out strong, taking a 7-2 lead over the Crimson in the first three minutes of the game. But over the next two minutes of play, which included three rebounds and four points from Finelli, Harvard pulled ahead, 8-7. Finelli had a game-high 18 points.

“Niki [Finelli] was your ultimate senior captain” Delaney-Smith said. “She did it at both ends. She was a leader, she shot, she just had the all-around, senior leader, captain game.”

Finelli was not the only Harvard player who had a stand-out game. Four Crimson players scored in double-digits, including Berry, who also had six assists, and Emma Markley, who picked up four steals.

“There are things that do not show up statistically, like great defensive plays, like [sophomores] Jackie [Alemany] and Claire Wheeler had some big rebounds,” Finelli said. “I think it was a complete team effort that allowed us to win yesterday.”

With a shot from Dani Iervolino, Northeastern then pulled ahead, 10-8, and maintained the lead for the next five minutes, until a jumper from Berry put the Crimson back in the lead, 19-18. But the Huskies quickly capitalized on a shot from Kim Carr and regained control of the score, 20-19, until a three-pointer from Alemany put the Crimson back in front, 24-22. The Crimson made a season-high 11 three-pointers during the course of the game.

“I think that was [Northeastern’s] gameplan, to see if we could beat them with outside shooting,” Delaney-Smith said. “We actually have really dangerous outside shooters, we just haven’t consistently taken advantage of that. We have players with the capability to hit threes, and that’s basically the reason we won.”

The first half ended with the Crimson leading the Huskies, 29-28. Northeastern refused to simply give up the game and scored the first points of the second half to regain the lead, 30-29.

“Northeastern is a big crosstown rival for us, and we just really tried to stay focused,” Finelli said.

This rivalry was exhibited in the intensity of the second half, which resulted in four ties and 10 lead changes between the two teams.

But Harvard never game up the fight, and in overtime, tallied its last win of 2008.

—Staff writer Stephanie Krysiak can be reached at skrysiak@fas.harvard.edu.