Lippert’s Career High Brings Victory

When sophomore guard Brogan Berry calmly stepped up to the foul line and sank two free throws to give Harvard a 15-point lead with 33 seconds left, there was a palpable sigh of relief on the Crimson bench.

It was one of the few relaxed moments that the Harvard women’s basketball team (14-7, 5-2 Ivy) could enjoy against Brown (6-16, 3-5) on its way to a 66-51 victory at Lavietes Pavilion Saturday night.

For the second-straight evening, freshman Victoria Lippert led the way for the Crimson, posting a career-high 27 points. The rookie shot 9-for-15 from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe.

Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith credited Lippert’s play to her being moved to forward.

“We were having her try to go around screens and she wants to go through screens,” Delaney-Smith said. “She’s a very physical, strong, powerful player. It was a brilliant idea on our part and she is happy and you can see the numbers show it.”

“She is a machine,” junior forward Emma Markley added.

The Bears looked out of sorts from the beginning, as the Crimson used a 2-3 zone to race out to 16-4 lead with 10:40 left in the first half. That’s when Brown began to employ a full-court press, causing Harvard to scramble.

“We want to able to break the press and still feel good about the sets we run,” Delaney-Smith said. “So if we are not getting into our sets, which we weren’t...we were trying to shoot quickly and it wasn’t always the right decision. Sometimes it was the quick decision that was the wrong decision.”

Two quick fouls by junior co-captain Christine Matera forced her to sit out the remainder of the half, and the Bears pounced, going on a 9-0 run.

“[Matera] is very controlled and methodical—she brings poise to our team.” Delaney-Smith said. “And I thought we lacked that in the first half. We needed that leadership on the floor to calm us down and let us know that things were fine.”

A fast-break layup by Brown guard Hannah Passafuime tightened the game to 24-23 with 1:49 left in the first half.

That woke up Harvard, which responded with a 15-4 run that extended into the second half, keyed by a three-pointer from Berry.

Matera was eager to return to action in the second half, scoring a three-pointer 30 seconds in. She finished with 12 points.

But Matera wasn’t the only one eager to reverse trends in the second half.

After Markley posted a humble four points, one rebound and one block in the first half, she came out of halftime with a vengeance, swatting away two shots in a single possession.

“Things just clicked in the second half,” Markley said. “I got a little angrier and a little bit more fired up.”

She was a force in the paint for the rest of the half, finishing with 17 points, seven boards and six blocks.

Yet despite the strong effort from Markley, Harvard was unable to put Brown away for good in the second half.

“Credit Brown for how scrappy they were, they played the underdog role well,” Delaney-Smith said. “[They played with] nothing to lose...They are deep—just [kept] putting waves of people at us.”

The Bears got as close as six following a layup from Christina Johnson with eight minutes left in the second, but the Crimson was able to respond.

Berry drove the lane to dish to a wide-open Miriam Rutzen for an easy lay-up. Rutzen then got a block on the other end of the floor, leading to two free throws for Lippert and setting off a 17-8 Harvard run to close out the game.