Road Woes Continue as Crimson Falls at Marist

There’s no place like home.

The Harvard women’s basketball team is learning that the hard way after losing at Marist, 85-70, Tuesday evening to fall to 0-4 on the road this season.

Although the Crimson (6-4) has posted a perfect 5-0 home record, it couldn’t extend its three-game winning streak against a tough Red Fox squad (8-4) that held Harvard to just 30 points in the first half after the Crimson had been averaging 83 points per game during its win streak.

On the other side of the ball, Marist posted 50 points on 60.6-percent shooting from the field in the first half en route to a 20-point halftime lead.

“We weren’t communicating well on defense in the first half at all,” junior co-captain Claire Wheeler said. “Our turnovers led to too many points, and poor communication led them to a lot of open shots.”

The Red Foxes certainly found many open shots while picking apart the Crimson defense, connecting on 7-of-12 from three-point range in the first half.

Harvard fought from behind for most of the early going, but managed to cut its deficit to 23-20 before Marist used runs of 11-3 and 16-3 to solidify a strong lead going into the break.

The Crimson would outscore the Red Foxes, 40-35, in the second half but would never get closer than a 66-58 deficit following a three-pointer by junior co-captain Christine Matera, who posted a career-high 19 points in the contest. Junior Emma Markley added 16 points and 13 rebounds for her fourth-straight double-double of the season.

“I think we definitely fought in the second half to come back, but we just didn’t play with enough consistency throughout the game,” Markley said. “We need to work on playing through the entire game.”

Although it’s still early in the season, Harvard’s road woes are becoming notable—the Crimson is allowing 80.5 points per game on the road this year compared to just under 70 points per game at home.

“I wouldn’t really say we’re a different team on the road,” Markley said.  “We may naturally play with a little more confidence at home, but I wouldn’t say it’s something noticeable.”

Whatever the reason for its road performance, Harvard has little time to right the ship before conference play begins.

After returning to Lavietes Pavilion to host Navy this Saturday, Harvard rounds out its non-conference slate with a four-game road trip that includes visits to UMass and Florida State.

“We’re aware of [our road struggles], but we don’t really look to make that excuse,” Wheeler said.  “It doesn’t matter whether we’re home or away, we just need to be more consistent and expect to bring the same level of intensity to each and every game.”

—Staff writer Colin Whelehan can be reached at whelehan@fas.harvard.edu.