Women's Basketball Tops Cornell, 84-69, at Lavietes

A career night for senior guard Jasmine Evans carried the Harvard women’s basketball team to an 84-69 victory over Cornell. Evans scored 21 points, a personal record, to help secure the Crimson’s win at Lavietes Pavilion.  Harvard’s victory over the Big Red makes it a three-team race for the conference title down the stretch as Princeton, Penn, and the Crimson all sit with only one Ivy League loss to date.

Harvard (17-5, 7-1 Ivy) was able to jump out to an early lead thanks in large part to junior Temi Fagbenle, who came out of the gates red-hot. The 6’4” forward went 4-for-5 from the field in the first 10 minutes of the game and imposed her will against a talented Cornell (12-10, 4-4) frontline of Allyson DiMagno and Nia Marshall.

Fagbenle’s strong start forced the Big Red guards to sag slightly towards the junior when defending the pick-and-roll. The adjustment, while successful in slowing Fagbenle’s inside presence, allowed the Crimson guards to find success on the perimeter.

“They were hedging on our ball screens, so our focus was to get a lot of inside-outside action,” Evans said. “With so much focus on our forwards, it opens up our guards for easy shots. I think we do a great job of seeing the floor, seeing each other, and finding the open player.”

Midway through the first half with Harvard up, 17-11, coach Kathy Delaney-Smith switched to a zone look on defense.  The Crimson stayed in the zone for roughly five minutes and was able to force two turnovers while extending its lead to 25-15.

Four straight points from Cornell’s senior leader DiMagno helped cut Harvard’s lead to five with only a couple minutes to go before half, but two strong plays from Evans and sophomore Kit Metoyer pushed the Crimson lead back to 10 as the teams headed into the locker rooms for halftime.

With a minute left, Evans swiped the ball from Big Red freshman Megan Ludic and took it coast-to-coast for a crafty transition lay-in.  On Harvard’s next possession, the Crimson had its inside-outside game on display as Fagbenle kicked the ball out to the sharpshooter Metoyer who pulled up well behind the arc to knock down a deep three as time expired.

Co-captain Christine Clark, coming off a 21-point performance against Columbia that saw her go 7-of-11 from the field, struggled through much of the first half as the Cornell defense continuously tried to force the ball out of her hand.  The senior ended the first half with 8 points on just 4-of-11 shooting.

Despite a difficult first half, Clark would finish the game with 20 points behind a strong second half that saw her get to the free-throw line eight times. The biggest story of the second half, however, was Evans taking over down the stretch.

The senior guard scored 15 of her 21 points in the second half and was one of only a few Harvard players that remained poised against a three-quarter-court press by Cornell that continuously bothered the Crimson offense down the stretch.

Quick buckets from Clark, Fagbenle, and senior Melissa Mullins pushed the Crimson lead to 20 early in the second half, but the lead would not last against the backcourt pressure from the Big Red.

Twelve Harvard turnovers in the second half, many while trying to get the ball over the half-court line, allowed Cornell back into the game. As the Big Red slowly tried to chip away at the Harvard lead, it was Evans that came up with big play after big play.

With the lead down to 15 with eight minutes left in the game, Evans sank a pull-up jumper off an assist from Mullins. After a Cornell turnover on the other end, junior guard Ali Curtis pushed the ball up the floor and found Evans in the corner for a transition three to give the Crimson a 64-44 edge.

After two quick Big Red scores, Evans found Fagbenle inside with an assist. Evans then generated another steal and pushed the ball up the floor, driving right at two Cornell players to earn a trip to the line. The two free throws made it nine-straight points for the senior guard.

Though the Big Red eventually cut the Crimson lead to 11, it was too little, too late for the visitors from Ithaca as Harvard hit its free throws to close the game out.

“I think Jasmine created a lot [for us tonight] by being really smart and being under control while pulling up off the dribble or driving off of a steal,” Delaney-Smith said. “I though Jasmine was a superstar tonight; she was a poised, talented senior.”

—Staff writer Ty Aderhold can be reached at michael.aderhold@thecrimson.com.