The Harvard women's basketball team kicked off the New Year with some old habits. Fortunately, winning is not a habit the Crimson wants to break.
Harvard (10-2, 1-0 Ivy) opened is Ivy League season with a thrilling 74-69 victory over Dartmouth (5-6, 0-1 Ivy) Saturday night at Lavietes Pavilion. The victory runs the Crimson's record for consecutive Ivy victories to 27 games.
"I thought we were very poised when momentum was not our way for most of the game," said Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith. "Our team has enormous confidence."
The streak, however, was in serious jeopardy with seven minutes remaining in Saturday's contest. Harvard found itself trailing by a score of 62-55 against a Dart-mouth squad that hit 47 percent of its shots in the game.
"They were hitting everything at the beginning, and that threw us off," said junior guard Suzie Miller.
"Dartmouth is a very talented team, and the rivalry is so strong," Delaney-Smith said. "I was frightened the whole game."
But the two-time defending Ivy League champions refused to quit. Co-captain Allison Feaster took over down the stretch, scoring 13 of the Crimson's final 19 points to lead Harvard to victory. The most crucial baskets of the game, however, would belong to two of Feaster's teammates.
With 6:35 to play in the second half, Feaster connected on her second three-pointer of the night to pull the Crimson to within four points. After the Big Green answered at the other end of the floor, Feaster came right back and knocked down a baseline jumper to make the score 64-60.
On Harvard's next possession, junior forward Sarah Russell hit Feaster with a gorgeous feed which the All-American laid up and in, cutting Dartmouth's advantage to two points. Half's a minute later Feaster drew a foul with a strong move in the paint, and she converted both free throws to knot the score at 64-64.
"I'm not going to lie, I was scared", Feaster said. "This was out first game in the Ivy League, and everyone was so pumped that I think something got away from us. I knew we had to do something."
A layup put the Big Green ahead by two once again before Miller nailed the bigger shot of the game--and perhaps the season--for Harvard. With 3:00 left to play and Dartmouth's defense focused on stopping Feaster, Miller took center stage and did not disappoint.
Feaster dribbled the ball up the court and, as the Big Green's defense collapsed on her, she kicked the rock out to Miller who spotted up behind the three-point arc. Feaster shouted, "Bust that," and the junior forward obliged. Miller's third trey of the game gave Harvard a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the way.
"Playing on a team with Allison Feaster just opens up shots for other people," Miller said. "All we have to do is get open, and she'll get us the ball."
The task of sealing the victory for Harvard fell on the shoulders of co-captain point guard Megan Basil. With 16 seconds showing on the clock and the Crimson clinging to a 69-67 lead, Basil stepped to the foul line with a one-and opportunity.
She converted the front end--thanks in part to a friendly rim--but missed the second shot. Feather grabbed the rebound, however, and converted two shots from the charity stripe to put Harvard up by five points.
Dartmouth then hit a quick shot and fouled, sending Basil to the line once again with seven seconds to play and a three-point edge. The veteran leader showed her typical poise, even in a clutch situation, and hit both shots to close out the scoring.
"I was so nervous because [Dartmouth] had make so many threes," Basil said.
Feaster finished with a game-high 36 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Miller added 11 points, four rebounds and one steal. Basil had six points, four assists and two steals.
Senior guard Alison Seanor had another strong all-around effort finishing with six points, five rebounds, six assists and three steals. Harvard also continued to get excellent production from the other for "I think we have veterans, and I think we have kids who can do it," Delaney-Smith said. "Suzie Miller was terrific. Alison Seanor started to do defensively what the whole team should have been doing." Harvard overcame a combination of poor shooting by its players and torrid shooting by Dartmouth in the first half. The Big Green converted 50 percent of its shots-- compared to the Crimson's 37 percent--to take a 39-35 lead into the locker room at intermission. "This was our weakest defensive game in a long time," Delaney-Smith said. "I thought we were incredibly unaggressive on defense. This better be our wake-up call. What we pride ourselves on is our defense, and it wasn't here tonight. "I thought we were lucky to win this game. We played at a frantic level. We're better than this, and I expected us to have done a much better job." Harvard's defense looked more sluggish than it has in the past, but the Crimson did a good job in the second half against what is arguably the best backcourt in the Ivy League. Senior Bess Tortolani, junior Nicci Rinaldi and sophomore Courtney Banghart combined for 35 points in the game, but only 12 of those came in the second period. "I think we picked it up a little bit more defensively in the second half," Miller said. "We're playing for the Ivy League title here, and we know every team is going to play like Dartmouth played," Feaster said. "We have to step our game up and not play to their level." Holiday Action Harvard played three games over the holiday break and came away with two victories and one heart-breaking loss. On December 16 the Crimson cruised to a 63-48 victory over Northeastern at Cabot Gym. One week later Harvard traveled to South Carolina to face the University of South Carolina and Wofford College in a homecoming for Feaster, who is a native of Chester, S.C. The Crimson fell to the Lady Game-cocks, 72-69, after several shots missed the mark in the waning seconds of the contest. Harvard's 26 turnovers led to 30 South Carolina points, and Annie Lester scored 31 points to pace the Lady Gamecocks. Harvard blew Wofford away two days later, 87-67, as every player on the Crimson's roster saw significant minutes. Senior Karun Grossman scored 11 points in the game with a perfect four-of-four shooting performance. Foster led Harvard over the holiday with combined totals of 80 points, 24 rebounds, 10 assists and nine steals. Notes * Freshman point guard Lisa Kowal gave Harvard quite a lift at the end of the first half against Dartmouth. Kowal nailed a running jumper as the buzzer sounded to steal the show--and the momentum--from the Big Green. * Harvard's victory over Dartmouth marks the Crimson's 15th consecutive home win. The last time Harvard dropped a contest at Lavietes Pavilion was a 65-64 loss on a buzzer beater to Siena on November 30, 1996. * It appears that Suzie Miller is finally emerging as the star she was expected to be for Harvard. After starting the season with a paltry 19 percent shooting, she has caught fire; Miller is shooting a remarkable 65 percent in her last three games. * Allison Feaster has moved into second place on the Ivy League's all-time scoring list with 1,864 career points. She needs just 70 points to surpass the mark of 1,933 points held by Gail Koziara '82 of Dart-mouth. DARTMOUTH: Rewalt 8-14 0-1 16; Tortolani 6-15 1-2 15; Rinaldi 4-7 3-4 13; Pinkston 4-6 0-0 8; Banghart 1-6 5-6 7; O'Connor 3-6 0-0 6; Freeman 1-3 00-0 2; Lippe 1-1 0-0 2; Veysey 0-2 0-0 0. TOTALS 28-60 9-13 69. HARVARD: Feaster 13-22 8-8 36; Miller 4-6 0-0 11; Russell 2-4 3-4 7; Seanor 2-5 1-2 6; Basil 1-8 3-4 6; Janowski 3-9 0-0 6; Kowal 1-2 0-0 2; Brandt 0-6 0-0 0. TOTALS: 26-62 15-18 74. SOUTH CAROLINA: Lester 11-19 9-9 31; Miars 5-18 1-3 12; Williams 2-9 6-7 10; Ramsey 2-6 2-4 6; Jeffcoat 2-5 0-0 4; White 2-4 0-0 4; Godfrey 1-5 0-0 3; Lee 1-5 0-0 2. TOTALS 26-71 18-23 72. HARVARD: Feaster 10-17 6-9 30; Miller 6-8 0-0 15; Janowski 5-11 1-2 11; Russell 2-3 0-0 4; Seanor 2-5 0-0 4; Kowal 1-2 1-2 3; Brandt 1-1 0-0 2; Basil 0-3 0-0 0; Sturdy 0-1 0-0 0; Kinneen 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 27-51 8-13 69. WOFFORD: Parris 5-15 2-4 13; Hines 5-7 0-3 10; Franks 3-4 2-2 8; Brown 3-6 1-2 7; Massey 3-6 2-2 8; Wells 3-6 2-4 8; Varn 1-2 3-3 5; W. Wagnon 1-2 2-6 4; J. Wagnon 2-6 0-0 4. TOTALS 26-59 14-26 67. HARVARD: Feaster 9-17 6-6 25; Grossman 4-4 2-2 11; Egelhoff 2-5 2-3 7; Miller 3-6 2-2 9; Basil 3-7 0-0 9; Janowski 4-6 0-4 8; Brandt 3-6 0-0 6; Seanor 2-5 0-0 5; Boike 1-1 0-1 2; Larkworthy 1-2 0-1 2; Kowal 1-4 0-0 2; Kinneen 0-1 1-2 1. TOTALS: 33-71 13-21 87. NORTHEASTERN: Tinsley 6-12 5-6 19; Almengot 2-7 3-4 7; Lawrence 3-7 1-4 7; DiMaria 2-6 0-0 4; Hanewald 2-5 0-0 4; Palecek 2-5 0-0 4; Herzorg 1-9 1-2 3. TOTALS 18-52 10-16 48. HARVARD: Freaster 9-14 6-8 25; Basil 3-7 0-0 9; Janowski 2-4 3-4 7; Seanor 1-2 5-6 7; Brandt 2-5 0-0 4; Kowal 2-4 0-0 4; Miller 1-6 0-0 3; Russell 1-2 0-0 2; Kinneen 0-1 0-0 0 TOTALS: 21-46 16-20 63.
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