The Harvard women’s basketball team pulled out two important Ivy league vistories this weekend, both without the play of their second leading scorer, freshman Reka Cserny. On Friday the Crimson defeated Brown 63-51 in a physical matchup that was close throughout. Harvard came back to win thanks to a career high 18 points by senior guard Jenn Monti.

Against Yale on Saturday, Harvard struggled to contend with the Elis’ zone press, but shot better in the second half to pull out a 61-57 win. Harvard sophomore Hana Peltjo recorded another double-double, while strong performances were turned in by Monti and junior forward Kate Ides, who started in Cserny’s place.

The Crimson’s two victories set up a showdown between Harvard (13-5, 4-1 Ivy) and Cornell (11-8, 5-1) for first place in the Ivies at Lavietes on Saturday.

Harvard 61, Yale 57

The Crimson turned in another comeback victory as it struggled to overcome its first half woes against Yale at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.

Still without the services of Cserny, the Crimson continued to struggle to put up points in the first half.

Yale (10-9, 3-3) used quick hands and accurate shooting to build up a quick lead against the Crimson.

“Yale employed a zone press that we had trouble breaking,” sophomore Dirkje Dunham said. “but I think it had more to do with our lack of assertiveness than the toughness of their zone.”

The Elies also capitalized on Harvard’s inability to sink a single three-point shot or consistently reach the foul line in the half.

Once again, the Crimson relied on Peltjo to carry the bulk of the offensive weight. Her game-high 16 points kept Harvard close going into the half, only trailing Yale 30-21.

The second half saw the re-emergence of Harvard’s offense, but the game remained close due to the continued strong play by the Bulldogs.

Led by Helene Schutrumpf’s 13 points and Meg Simpson’s 15 rebounds, Yale held the lead for all but the last four minutes of the game.

Yet the Elies could not overcome the torrid shooting put up by Harvard. The Crimson hit 55 percent from the field and 36 percent from beyond the arc in the second half. Peljto completed the second half of her double-double by pulling down 12 rebounds, while Ides added 12 points.

The turning point of the game, though, came from the charity strip. With the score tied at 57, Monti hit the go-ahead free throw. She then scored Harvard’s last four points to seal the win, and complete Harvard’s weekend full of turnarounds.

“We’ve begun saying that every game is a title game,” Dunham said.

With big games against Columbia and Ivy League frontrunner Cornell, the Crimson will need to play that way.

Harvard 63, Brown 51

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—It was a Jekyl and Hyde weekend for the Harvard women’s basketball team, who needed to reach halftime before picking up its play.

On Friday night the Crimson traveled down to the Pizzitola Sports Center to face Brown. Harvard, missing its second leading scorer in Cserny, started off the game missing 20 of 27 shots.

Harvard’s Peltjo arrived at Brown missing something more; her sneakers had not made the trip to Providence.

The Crimson came in hitting almost 45 percent of its shots from the floor before struggling in the first half against Brown (4-14, 1-4).

Harvard struggled even more mightily from beyond the arc, connecting on only one of its fourteen three-pointers before the break.

To make matters worse, Peljto, Harvard’s leading scorer sat out most of the first half with two fouls.

Defense kept the Crimson in the game, with Harvard players recording five steals in the half and keeping Brown scoreless from beyond the arc. At halftime Brown only led 24-19.

“We’ve had too many turnovers on offense,”said sophomore Tricia Tubridy. “We have just gotten careless with the ball. We’re making mental mistakes that we shouldn’t be making.”

But coming out of the locker room in the second half emerged the Harvard squad everyone expected to see.

Taking advantage of timely three-pointers and sloppy play by Brown, the Crimson stormed back to tie the score at 29 with 15:22 left.

No longer in foul trouble, Peljto began to assert herself in the paint, scoring eight of her 10 points in the second half of the game.

The real game breaker, though, was Monti. Her game and career-high 18 points jumpstarted the Harvard offense, and proved to be the difference late in the game as she sank a series of runners in the lane.

Thanks to an improved second-half shooting percentage, and a 50 percent clip beyond the arc, the Crimson was able to pull away.

In a physical game where many of the players lost their footing, and Harvard seemed to have lost its touch, timely baskets and stiff defense propelled the Crimson to a 63-51 win.

“In the first half of the Brown game we were not being very aggressive in going towards the basket,” Dunham said, “but I feel it was the best team defense we played all year.”