Gates' uncanny ability to follow missed shots and co-captain Sarah Russell's effective passing helped Harvard narrow its deficit. Gates scored nine of her 11 points in the first half, and Russell ended the period with five assists as the Crimson went into the locker room at intermission down 35-31.

The margin would have been larger if not for Gates' timely shooting. B.U. senior Jaime Nicholls nailed a trey with 19 seconds remaining in the half to put the Terriers up by seven. But on the Crimson's next possession, Gates answered Nicholls with a three of her own.

"Katie's a gamer," Delaney-Smith said. "She does that in practice too. She's very athletic, and she has a great shot. Katie's a great player; I loved the way she played [last] night."

In the second half, Harvard came out in a zone defense after playing man-to-man for the first 20 minutes, and the strategy paid off. While the Crimson gave up easy jumpers in the half-court set and lay-ups in transition during the first half, the Terriers had a much harder time getting to the basket in the second. B.U. junior forward Gina Powers burned Harvard for 16 points in the first half but was held to just seven in the final 25 minutes, including overtime.

"I put the zone in two hours ago, just about," Delaney-Smith said. "We practiced the zone once, but it was very effective. The zone went in late to keep us aggressive and to keep us attacking. Now that it's in we'll probably use it a lot."

Harvard scored the first four points of the second half on jumpers by Janowski and Russell to tie the game. The Crimson even managed brief two-point leads at 39-37, 41-39 and 43-41 before the Terriers opened up a seven-point advantage with 8:30 remaining.

But buckets by Sturdy and Janowski on nifty passing from Kowal and a couple of free throws by Gates cut B.U.'s lead to one with 5:39 remaining. The differential was no larger than four points for the remainder of regulation, leading up to Janowski's clutch free throws. Janowski scored Harvard's final 10 points in regulation.

"I don't like that we adjust so slowly, so I'm not happy with this game," Delaney-Smith said. "I'm glad we won, but I thought the first half was horrible. I'm glad we were able to play through being horrible; 15 turnovers in the first half is unacceptable."

Although the Crimson had difficulty running its offense early on, the triangle led to easy shots from the paint later on. Janowski shot 13-of-15 for the game, Sturdy was 9-of-12 and Harvard shot 55 percent as a team.

"I think the reason we had a lot of success in the post is because their posts were in foul trouble, so we could really go at them," Sturdy said. "But on any given night our guards can be the big scorers as well because we have some excellent shooters."

The Crimson won the battle of the boards as well, 48-30, looking most impressive on the defensive glass, where Harvard hauled in 36 rebounds to B.U.'s 11 offensive boards.

Harvard also displayed the tremendous depth it has boasted of throughout the preseason. Atypically, Delaney-Smith went 12 players deep into her bench--including four of her five freshmen--and nine players recorded double-digit minutes.