SEASON RECAP: Ivy Title Eludes Harvard

A fitting end just wasn’t to be for the four seniors of the Harvard women’s basketball team.

For the second straight year, a final-day loss to Dartmouth derailed the Crimson’s shot at a NCAA Tournament spot—and this year, the Ivy League title slipped away with it.

Playing for a share of the championship and a chance at a one-game playoff for the league’s tournament spot, Harvard fell uncharacteristically flat, going down, 64-51, to the Big Green in Hanover, N.H. on March 10.

“Unfortunately, in the biggest game of the season, we played our worst,” Crimson coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said after the loss.

But while a third consecutive championship may have been too much to ask of the decorated veterans, their farewell season still saw a great deal of resilience and, ultimately, a berth in the NIT.

There was one other important development for Harvard over the course of the year: the emergence of its two newest stars.

“[Sophomore] Emma Markley came right in and took control,” said senior Katie Rollins, Markley’s partner in the paint and a stalwart down low in her four years on the team. “Emma is really athletic—she’s strong, aggressive, and just has a basketball player’s body.”

Freshman Brogan Berry stepped into the shoes of Lindsay Hallion ’08 and did not miss a beat. The rookie point guard started every game, finishing the year second in the Ivy League in assist/turnover ratio and first in three-point percentage. She was the unanimous selection for the conference’s Rookie of the Year.

“She could be Player of the Year the next three years and be one of the best players to ever graduate from Harvard,” Rollins said. “The sky is the limit for her.”

With the play of Markley and Berry, along with the experienced seniors and a solid supporting cast of underclassmen, the Crimson went 8-6 in the busy non-conference part of its season.

An upset over Vermont on Dec. 11 was followed by a trip to California, where, in the first game, the Crimson would come back from a seven-point deficit in the final two minutes against UC Santa Barbara in a win that outgoing co-captain Niki Finelli would label a “stepping stone.”

An overtime victory over Northeastern capped off an impressive first half of the season.

However, in its opening conference game, the Crimson fell just short against rival Dartmouth, with Harvard unable to get a shot off in its final possession.

“To lose to Dartmouth on your home court in the first game was a blow,” Rollins said.

The Crimson knew it had to dig itself out of a hole, and bounced back with wins over Penn, Princeton, Yale, Brown, and Cornell.

On Feb. 14, however, another heartbreaking loss ensued—this time, at the hands of Columbia. Again, Harvard was just one shot away from the victory.

The defeat was incredibly costly, placing the Crimson two games back of then-undefeated Dartmouth. Another slip-up would surely end any chance that Harvard had at the league title.

The group met the challenge head on, overcoming a lot of adversity along the way. First was the 22-point comeback against Princeton. Then there was the fact that the squad of just ten girls—often left with no subs for practice—had to deal with Finelli’s season-ending injury.

But Harvard, led by its core of four seniors, continued to win.

In a 91-57 demolition of Yale, co-captain Emily Tay put on a show, scoring a career-high 34 points in her final game at Lavietes. Tay, who earned her third consecutive first-team All-Ivy honors, finished her career second on Harvard’s all-time assists list and eighth on its scoring list.

“She has made her mark on the Harvard basketball program, and players like her don’t come around often,” Finelli said.

Six consecutive victories set up the decisive showdown with Dartmouth. While the Crimson did not get the championship it had hoped for, it did achieve a spot in the NIT, where it would lose to a very strong St. John’s team in the first round.

“We fell short of our ultimate goal in terms of not winning the Ivy League,” Finelli said. “It’s disappointing, but when I reflect back over the year and over my career, I don’t regret a minute of my experience.”

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