“We’d pull within four or five points and then one of their girls would hit a three,” Tubridy said. “That jump in the difference would kill our momentum. It just stings when they hit a three when you’re in the middle of a run.”

In the second half, Harvard pulled within four points of the Wildcats when Davis made back-to-back three-point field goals. Harvard answered with five points, but Villanova held onto its lead for a final score of 59-51.

Peljto collected 24 points and eight rebounds for the day while Tubridy contributed nine. Harvard finished with 20 turnovers compared to the Wildcats’ 11.

Harvard 68, Fairfield 62

In spite of 22 points scored by Fairfield junior Schrene Isidora, the Crimson won the game with success on the boards and on the free-throw line.

“We really wanted to go out and play tough defense,” Tubridy said. “We knew how important defense was against the posts. We had to go to the board.”

Peljto and Tubridy racked up 12 rebounds apiece, contributing to the Crimson’s 48-39 advantage over the Stag in rebounds. Harvard outrebounded Fairfield 21-14 on the offensive glass.

“[Coach Delaney-Smith] and I talked about how I needed to be more productive on the offensive boards,” Tubridy said. “ And I got kind-of lucky with a lot of balls bouncing my way.”

Harvard was perfect from the charity line, going 15-for-15 while Fairfield shot just 9-for-18.

Peljto tallied 15 points for the Crimson, while Gates and Ides each registered 13 points. Ides also had three blocked shots.

“Kate [Ides] really stepped up,” Tubridy said. “She did a lot of intangible things that don’t show up [in the box score].”

Fairfield earned points by shooting 41.7 percent from the field, while Harvard mustered a 33.3 percent performace.

“I think that the best thing [about this game] was that throughout the entire game, we felt together, both on court and on bench,” Tubridy said. “There was this complete feeling of cohesiveness which is something I think we’ve been missing.”