Crimson Comeback Thrills Home Crowd

If you weren’t one of the 614 fans in attendance at the Harvard women’s basketball (15-8, 7-2 Ivy) game against Princeton (9-14, 4-5 Ivy) last Friday, then you missed arguably the most exciting game the Lavietes Pavilion has seen all school year. The giant “H” that lies prominently at half court almost seemed to stand for “Houdini” rather than “Harvard” in the second half of the game.

After an abysmal first half that left the Crimson down, 34-15, Harvard shocked all onlookers both on and off of the court by outscoring Princeton 39-16 in the second half and finishing with a 54-50 win. A seemingly dead Crimson team revived itself at halftime and orchestrated run after unanswered run in the final minutes of the game, each time sinking its teeth deeper into Princeton’s seemingly untouchable lead.

With less than a minute to go, the game was tied, 50-50. As the atmosphere was overflowing with energy and the crowd tensed, sophomore Emma Markley sealed the deal as Harvard earned an astonishing win.

After Markley hit a huge layup in traffic with 36 seconds to go, giving Harvard a 52-50 advantage, the Tigers had one more chance to stay in the game. Princeton senior guard Jessica Berry missed a critical jumper and Markley was fouled as she inhaled the rebound. She delivered the dagger from the line, hitting both free throws and sealing the game.

What made the game so exciting was not merely the statistics of the final outcome, but the fact that Harvard was able to rally its players after playing so poorly in the first half. The team was out of sync, the crowd was disheartened, and Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith was infuriated.

“They could not have gotten worse,” said Delaney-Smith of her team’s performance in the first half. “They weren’t us. It may have been the worst half of basketball in my 27 years. Princeton was laughing at us.”

“We didn’t come out with enough intensity or energy,” said Markley, who finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. “I don’t think we wanted it, or we didn’t seem like we wanted it.”

Harvard had just two points in the first eight minutes of the game and did not get into double-digits until four minutes remained in the half. With 10 first-half turnovers, the Crimson simply did not take care of the ball.

Meanwhile, the Tigers were taking their time, looking for cutters, and creating open shots for their top scorers. Princeton’s sharpshooting Berry played target practice from various points behind the arc, hitting four of five three-pointers in the first half. Each of her rainbow set shots appeared to pause momentarily at its peak; she backpedaled triumphantly just as each ball plunged perfectly through the goal, touching nothing but the bottom of the net.

“Princeton was really hot,” said co-captain Emily Tay, who initiated the second half comeback with a steady stream of points and dishes. “They were confident. They caught us off guard and we were back on our heels.”

No one would quite reveal what was said in the Crimson locker room at halftime, but Harvard came out looking revitalized.

“You wouldn’t want to be a fly on the wall in there,” Delaney-Smith said.

“She had a few choice words,” Markley said. “I’m sure that got us fired up.”

As soon as the second half began, the Crimson’s body language changed, and it began quietly scraping at Princeton’s 19-point lead. After a fade-away 12-footer from Tay, a strong layup in the paint from Markley, and a three from freshman guard Brogan Berry, the Harvard side of the bleachers started catching on to its team’s second wind. Minutes later, Princeton’s lead was cut to 10 by an acrobatic layup from Tay and an ensuing trip to the line for forward Katie Rollins, who was injured last week. At this point the crowd was on its feet.

The crowd was right—out of nowhere, the comeback was in full force. Crimson sophomore guard Jackie Alemany caught a fancy dish from Tay and sunk a three, cutting the lead to seven.

Senior forward Emma Moretzsohn banked in a hook shot. Then Tay hit one of two from the line. Moretzsohn again. The lead was now cut to two with eight minutes left.

“We basically turned on the switch,” Tay said.

Another clutch trey from Berry gave Harvard a 40-39 lead, its first of the game, with five minutes to go. Markley scored the next six points for the Crimson in just 90 seconds.

Princeton stuck around, regaining the lead as freshman Lauren Edwards connected from downtown with 1:43 left in the game.

Less than a minute later, Markley’s heroics put Harvard back on top for good.

“I think tonight was a huge team effort,” Markley said. “Everyone contributed.”

Friday night’s thrilling win kept the Crimson’s season alive, as a loss would have taken the team out of second place in the Ivy standings and further distanced them from undefeated Dartmouth (13-9, 8-0 Ivy).

“It was good heart,” said Tay. “We like to keep it exciting, though.”