Women's Basketball Takes Home Opener

The last time that the Harvard women’s basketball team lost a home opener was in 2008. On Saturday, senior forward Temi Fagbenle and junior forward AnnMarie Healy made sure to extend the streak to six.

Harvard (1-0, 0-0 Ivy) held off a late second half rally to beat Colgate (0-1, 0-0 Patriot), 68-53, in a matinee at Lavietes Pavilion.

Fagbenle led the way for Harvard with 17 points while adding nine rebounds, and Healy produced most of her 11 points and 10 rebounds down the stretch.

“It was your typical first game, slightly ugly,” Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “We have enough veterans that held us together…. What I cared about was weathering the storm of the pressure in the defensive end and the rebounding. We took care of business at the end when we had to.”

The Harvard lead stood at 13 with 13 minutes left in the second half, but the Raiders refused to go away. Colgate went on a 14-4 run to cut Harvard’s lead to three with nine minutes left, during a four-minute stretch without a Crimson field goal.

With the game on the line, Fagbenle and Healy took over. The duo scored 13 of the team’s final 15 points, capped off by an and-one lay-up by Healy with 1:19 left that brought the crowd to its feet.

“I thought both Temi and AnnMarie were immense, both as rebounders, [and] as defenders securing the ball,” Delaney-Smith said. “We count on both of them to do that. That isn’t unusual for either of them.”

The Crimson finished the game on a 21-9 run and held the Raiders to five points in the final five minutes. Harvard’s rotation down the stretch featured a mix of experience and new players, who came together to put away Colgate.

“I thought the way that we finished that game was the best thing that I’ve seen all season,” co-captain Kaitlyn Dinkins said. “The way we came together, made the adjustments, ripped down those boards in the time of need, and executed on offense, I was very pleased with it.”

The Raiders jumped out to an early lead, penetrating Harvard’s defense and getting high percentage shots inside. Dinkins kept Harvard in the game, connecting on four first-half threes for 12 points. The game was a breakthrough for Dinkins, who had scored 15 points total in a Crimson jersey Saturday. The senior was making her first career start and finished the game with 14 points, three assists, and three rebounds.

“It all came from my teammates,” Dinkins said. “They were looking for me, and they gave me some awesome passes, and I knocked them down. So, I definitely have to thank them for that awareness and give them all the credit.”

Colgate’s defense made it difficult for Harvard to get the ball inside, and the team had to settle for long jump shots early in the first half. Alongside Harvard’s starting line-up of four seniors and one junior, two players making their collegiate debuts played significant roles in the Crimson’s season-opening victory.

Destiny Nunley, a sophomore forward who missed all of last season with an injury, played 23 minutes and added seven points, including a key pair of free throws to help seal the victory. Freshman guard Kirby Porter registered two points and two blocks in her first career appearance.

After switching to zone defense, Harvard limited Colgate’s inside chances and went into halftime up by seven. Harvard padded its lead in the beginning of the second half as Fagbenle began getting better looks inside. The London native shot 8-of-10 from the field and added 12 second-half points.

The home opener had special meaning for senior point guard Ali Curtis, who faced off against her younger sister, Katie, a sophomore guard for the Raiders. Ali finished with two points, two rebounds, and an assist, while Katie, who guarded her sister early in the second half, saw seven minutes of action.