Gators Take Bite Out of Crimson in One-Sided Game

The Harvard women’s basketball team was competitive for only the first seven minutes of the game last night against Florida before the Gators chomped at the Crimson’s small lead and cruised to an 86-65 victory at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla.

Though each team had four players in double figures, Florida (9-2) had a scoring outburst from its bench, which tallied 51 points. The starters for the Crimson (4-3) did most of its work—though junior guard Brogan Berry chipped in 15 points off the bench—but they ultimately were not able to overcome a lead that reached as many as 33 points.

“It was a pretty disappointing outcome for our team,” Berry said. “We really had been working hard in practice and trying to improve on the little things…It didn’t quite show [yesterday]…We had a good push in the second half, but it was too late for us to come back and win.”

The Gators were coming off a 56-50 loss against a different Ivy League foe, Brown, on Sunday. In that game, Florida had its worst shooting display of the season (30.6 percent from the field), but the Gators bounced back nicely against Harvard, hitting 49.2 percent of their shots—a season-high.

The Crimson was once again erratic in its shooting, as it finished with a 39.3 field-goal percentage. Harvard has alternated wins and losses for the past six games, and each time the Crimson has lost, it’s been due to poor shooting.

“Unfortunately, we’ve had a rollercoaster season so far,” Berry said. “We struggle with finding consistency in our game, and it often comes with shooting. If we don’t make our shots, we get out of [our rhythm]—we get into a funk. I think we just need to change our mindset from offensive scoring to [being] more of a defensive team.”

Florida won the jump ball to start the game, but it was Harvard who scored first off a jumper by sophomore forward Victoria Lippert. The two teams exchanged baskets early on, resulting in three lead changes. But two three pointers from co-captain Christine Matera and two free throws by freshman guard Christine Clark helped the Crimson take a 12-10 lead with 13:30 left on the clock.

From there on out, Florida dominated, slowly increasing its lead as the first period progressed. The Gators’ Jennifer George scored on a layup, and guard Brittany Shine hit two consecutive three pointers to make the score 24-17 with nine minutes left to play. Shine led both teams with 16 points on the night, while George was second on the team with 14 points.

Florida went on a 17-7 run in the final five minutes of the first half to keep Harvard at bay. The Crimson went into locker room at halftime down by 16 points, 43-27.

“Gradually over the first half, we started to give them the ball,” Matera said. “We let them have too much possession off of turnovers and offensive rebounds when our shots weren’t falling on offense, and our defense wasn’t making up for that either.”

The Gators opened the second half by hitting a jumper, and then guard Jones Jordan stole the ball from Lippert, which led to another score. Florida had 11 steals on the night, and Jordan was one of two players with three steals.

“During this game, we tried to go quicker than our pace would allow us,” Berry said. “In the quick and frantic play of the game, we didn’t take care of the ball…We didn’t alter our game quick enough, and they were able to take advantage of our lazy passes and got the easy points.”

The lead hovered around 20 points for the first half of the second period but it ballooned to 30 when Shine made a layup off a fast break with 9:43 left to play in the game. Harvard senior Claire Wheeler made a jumper, but Florida’s Kayla Lewis responded with a trey. Wheeler then fouled Lanita Bartley, whose free throws increased the deficit to 33 points.

The Crimson spent the rest of the contest chipping away at the lead. A fast break layup by Berry cut the score to 82-64 with 2:14 on the clock, but that’s the closest Harvard would get. Several free throws extended the Gator’s lead, and the Crimson fell to its third loss of the season.

—Staff writer Brian A. Campos can be reached at bcampos@fas.harvard.edu.