Women's Baskeball Preps for BU

Last year’s game against Boston University is not a memory that members of the Harvard women’s basketball team would like to be reminded of. Heading into the game with a 7-2 record, the second best through nine games in program history, and a four-game winning streak, the Crimson committed 22 costly turnovers and suffered from a lack of sustained offensive momentum.

A pair of baseline drives from then-sophomore guard Temi Fagbenle opened up the game, but every time Harvard gained a slight lead, the Terriers immediately responded to eliminate it. Heading into overtime with the score tied at 57, the Crimson once again managed to pull ahead 61-57 in the first 1:15 of the extra period, but it was held scoreless for the remainder of the game. Boston University scored 11 unanswered points to clinch the victory, 68-61.

“I think the girls have last year’s game in mind,” head coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “But we have changed a lot since then …. We are a better team this year, and so I think the outcome will be different this time.”

Heading into Wednesday’s return matchup against its crosstown foe, the 29th meeting of its longest-running non-conference series, Harvard is ready to continue on with the rivalry, hoping to produce a different outcome this time around.

“We have played [BU] every year I have been here,” Delaney-Smith said. “So both teams are quite familiar with each other. [The Harvard-BU game] definitely has a ‘Best of Boston’ kind of feel to it.”

Harvard (1-1) welcomes BU (0-1) to Lavietes Pavilion for its home opener fresh off of a weekend competing in the DePaul Maggie Dixon Classic.

“That was an interesting opening weekend since we played two extremely athletic teams,” Delaney-Smith said. “Now we will go back to the drawing board and see what we can improve upon. We had way too many turnovers in both games, and we could use a little more depth on the offensive end.”

Harvard dropped a 99-75 decision to the host, DePaul University, before collecting an 83-76 victory against California Polytechnic University. Delaney-Smith tested the same starting lineup in both games, comprised of Fagbenle, co-captain Christine Clark, junior point guard Ali Curtis, senior shooting guard Melissa Mullins, and junior forward Erin McDonnell. While the Crimson shot over 45% in both games, costly turnovers—49 between the two games—made the weekend especially tough for the team.

Boston University will be making the mile-long trip to take on the Crimson just five days after its own home opener, a 73-62 loss against Northeastern. Despite 27 points from senior guard Danielle Callahan, inaccurate shooting plagued the Terriers, as they stumbled to make just 30% on the night.

“We need to make sure that we know how to capitalize on their weaknesses and our own strengths,” Clark said. “The key will be to execute the game plan. We are looking to have a strong defense against … BU, [which] graduated a lot of their top players from last year.”

The most prominent of BU’s departures is that of guard Chantell Alford, the first three-time America East Player of the Year selection in conference history,.

Harvard has been undefeated over fourteen games at Lavietes Pavilion since its loss to Princeton on February 11, 2012, and it posted a perfect 11-0 record at home in the 2012-13 season. Delaney-Smith hopes that the extra year under the team’s belt will lead to smarter basketball.

“We have changed so much since [last year’s Harvard-BU game],” Delaney-Smith said. “From the leadership right on down, we are just a different, better, team now. We’ve changed the system, and certain players that are key for us are a year older and better. Ali Curtis, our starting point guard, now has a full year under her belt, and the same goes for Temi [Fagbenle] and Erin [McDonnell]. ”

The Crimson is looking forward to not only avenging last year’s loss, but also welcoming fans to Lavietes for the first time this year.

“We are looking pretty good at this point,” Clark said. “Playing at home always brings the comfort level up a bit, and we should be very good [on] Wednesday night. The team chemistry is awesome, and everyone is on the same page as to what we should execute during the game.”