Seniors Lead Women's Basketball to Two Home Victories

“I think the difference between this team and any other team I’ve played for at Harvard is that we never give up, we’re never out of the race,” senior Shilpa Tummala said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a 23-point deficit at Yale or it’s last night and we have to beat it at the buzzer.”

Seven of the Harvard women’s basketball team’s 12 Ivy League games have been decided in the last three minutes of play or overtime. This weekend was no exception.

After giving up a 14-point lead against Yale (12-17, 3-9 Ivy) on Friday, the Crimson’s (14-11, 9-3 Ivy) performance in the last four minutes of the fourth quarter was one to remember. Saturday against Brown (13-13, 1-11) was no different—despite going up by 13 late in the third, a resilient Bears squad found its way back into the game. Ultimately, Harvard was able to hold off both opponents in its last weekend playing at home, picking up a pair of victories over its Ivy opponents.

HARVARD 92, BROWN 79

On a night meant to honor Harvard’s three seniors—AnnMarie Healy, Kit Metoyer, and Tummala—the trio did not disappoint. The group combined for 50 points and 21 rebounds.

Despite the offensive outpouring the Crimson’s win did not come easy. After a slow start, Harvard struggled to build a lead early in the first half.

After shooting just 31 percent through the first frame, Harvard closed the half with a punch—after a three pointer from Brown freshman Shayna Mehta put the Bears within four, freshman Madeline Raster raced down the court and connected from about four feet beyond the arc as the buzzer sounded. The Crimson closed the half up 39-32.

The late thee wouldn’t be enough to keep Harvard up in the second half. Despite a third quarter that saw the Crimson shoot 62 percent from the field, Brown hung around by forcing turnovers and pressing throughout the second half.

“Tonight they kept changing their full court pressure,” head coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “Brown did a nice job mixing up their presses and mixing up what they were doing at the other end. We struggled, we were just back on our heels as far as executing our offense.”

Despite the press, the Crimson managed to hold off the Bears when they came within four with five minutes left in the fourth. Tummala’s back-to-back threes would seal the deal as Harvard extended its winning streak to six games. Tummala finished the game and her career at Lavietes with 24 points and 12 rebounds.

“The seniors have been wonderful leaders, and mentors, and role models,” Delaney-Smith said. “They’ve changed the culture here. This year I felt that the seniors’ persistence and work ethic has been wonderful and inspirational. I have so much respect for their drive and their leadership.”

HARVARD 65, YALE 63

It’s difficult to describe in words what ensued at Lavietes Pavilion on Friday night. Playing against a Yale squad that the Crimson beat on a 23-point comeback in New Haven earlier this year, the Crimson’s second matchup against the Bulldogs didn’t fail to live up to expectations.

“In the last thirty seconds we called a time-out and we were running a dribble drive play just to run the clock down,” co-captain AnnMarie Healy said. “[Sydney Skinner] took it inside, and I dove in—she passed it inside and I missed a layup, but it reset the clock, and I put it in. I had no idea of time, so I was running back on defense.”

The defense wouldn’t be necessary as Healy’s shot went in just as the clock sounded. For the second time this season, Harvard handed Yale a dramatic loss.

The road to the Crimson’s victory was quite different this time around. On Friday, it was Harvard that came out firing. In the first quarter, the Crimson went on an uncontested 14-point run to jump out to a lead of that margin.

After shooting 53 percent from the field and 57 percent from beyond the arc through the first frame, Harvard slowed down in the second and third quarters.

“Once again, and this is problematic of all young teams, we didn’t execute on the offensive end as well as we should have,” Delaney-Smith said. “I thought some of our shot selection was absolutely crazy and not good, and they were boxing us out really well.”

With the Crimson’s offense stalling, Yale made a comeback of it’s own. A three followed by a two from junior guard Lena Munzer put the Bulldogs up by four with four minutes to go in the fourth.

Despite the late offense from Yale, freshman guard Sydney Skinner had other plans. She would score eight of Harvard’s last ten points before Healy capped off the Crimson’s run with the game-winner. Healy finished the night with 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.

“We’ve been in this position so many times this year,” junior Destiny Nunley said. “I think that’s kind of how we’re able to figure it out. We’ve been here before, we know what we have to do. We just had to rebound the ball, play extra hard defense, rotate, help the helper. All those little things become so much more important in those last ten minutes.”

—Staff writer Troy Boccelli can be reached at tboccelli@college.harvard.edu.