After scoring a season-high 101 points en route to a remarkable 37-point shellacking of Penn on Friday night, the Harvard women's basketball team was poised for an offensive letdown the following evening. And that's exactly what happened.
Unfortunately for Princeton, even when the Crimson is not at its best, it is still the best team in the Ivy League--by far. That fact was evident Saturday night at Lavietes Pavilion as Harvard (17-6, 10-1 Ivy), taking advantage of two Dartmouth losses this weekend, clinched at least a share of the Ivy League championship with a convincing 64-50 victory over archrival Princeton (16-9, 6-5).
Behind a mediocre .385 shooting percentage, the Crimson finished the ballgame well below its season average of 81.4 points-per-game. But Harvard turned in an outstanding defensive effort, holding Princeton to a meager 18 percent shooting in the first half, to keep the game out of reach for the Tigers.
"I thought we played great defense tonight," said point guard Jessica Gelman '97. "We want to be the best defensive team in the [Ivy] League."
This game was basically decided in the first eight minutes of play as Harvard jumped out to a 20-4 lead behind a stellar performance from forward Allison Feaster '98. With the four Harvard seniors on the squad playing in their final home game, a visibly emotional Feaster came out with the intent of making a significant contribution to their final home victory.
Feaster was in a zone right from the opening tip scoring 10 of the Crimson's first 12 points, six of those on two tremendous power moves for three-point plays. She helped Harvard open up the 16-point lead, which never fell below 12 for the remainder of the contest. And she finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds on the night.
Meanwhile, Gelman complemented Feaster's inside dominance with her best Magic Johnson impersonation, creating scoring opportunities all over the court for the Crimson. Harvard's floor general left Princeton defenders with mouths agape all evening long with her patented behind-the-back-dribble and her no look passes. Gelman, a major reason Harvard is in the midst of a program-best 10 game winning streak, turned in yet another superb performance. Whether she was dishing to an open teammate or backing down her Princeton counterpart for a turnaround jumper, Gelman was unstoppable. She finished the game with 11 points and 11 assists. "Jessica Gelman is doing a great job," Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. "There is no point guard better than her in the [Ivy] League." The final 32 minutes of the matchup were evenly played, but the outcome was never really in question. Princeton, who had just come off an upset of Dartmouth, played an extremely physical ballgame, but the Crimson did not flinch. When it was over, all 16 Harvard players had seen action. The most memorable moment of the game, however, was not a fantastic play; it actually occurred on a dead ball. With 1:50 left to play in the game and all four seniors on the court, Delaney-Smith sent in four substitutions. As Amy Reinhard '96, Katy Davis '96, and co-captains Elizabeth Gettelman '96 and Elizabeth Proudfit '96 walked toward the bench for the final time at Lavietes Pavilion, they were saluted by the home crowd with a standing ovation. "It's very sad," Davis said, "but we couldn't have gone out on any better of a note." Proudfit had more on her mind, though, than her final home game. "All my feelings are overshadowed by this part of the season," she said. "Everyone said 'Let's do it for the seniors,' but it's not about the seniors, it's about the Ivy title." Harvard now has three games remaining in the regular season, and a lone victory will assure the team of an outright Ivy League title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. And the squad ranked second in the nation in three-point field goals made and thirteenth in three-point field goal percentage wants to let everyone know that they are for real. "We don't just want to win the Ivy title," Gelman said. "We want to make a statement in the NCAA Tournament."
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