Shortly thereafter, Seanor fed Feaster with a gorgeous backdoor pass that the All-American converted into a lay-up to pull Harvard to within one. Following a missed shot by the Cardinal, Miller came back and hit an off-balance runner from the foul line to put the Crimson in front, 66-65, with 1:32 to play.

Feaster then rebounded a missed three-pointer by Flores, and laced a pass up to freshman point guard Lisa Kowal. Rather than looking for Feaster in the offensive set, Kowal penetrated down the left side of the Cardinal’s defense and kicked the rock out to Miller who was all alone in the left corner.

Miller checked to make sure her feet were behind the three-point arc and launched a shot that found nothing but the bottom of the net, staking Harvard to a 69-65 lead with 46 seconds showing on the clock.

Stanford inbounded the ball and raced up the floor, looking for a quick shot. The ball came to Scott in the low post, but as she turned to fire, Feaster came around and stripped the ball away. Feaster was fouled immediately and hit one of her two free throws to increase Harvard’s lead to five. Scott responded with a lay-up at the other end, and Feaster was fouled again on the ensuing inbound pass with 17 seconds remaining. She hit one of two from the line to push Harvard’s lead to 71-67.

Freuen attempted to pull Stanford within one, but her three-point attempt was off the mark, and Seanor secured the rebound with three seconds left to play and was immediately fouled. Seanor was unable to convert either free throw, but that proved inconsequential as a half-court shot by Scott came up short at the buzzer, and the Harvard players stormed the court in a wild celebration.

“[I knew we had won] with about 18 seconds left, maybe less,” Feaster said. “You can never be too sure. [Stanford] is not [seeded] number one for nothing.”

The Crimson was able to overcome 21 turnovers and 25 fouls in the game by hitting a robust 65 percent of its field goal attempts in the first half and executing a brilliant defensive plan. Harvard double-and triple-teamed Scott and the rest of Stanford’s frontcourt throughout the night, forcing 16 turnovers from the Cardinal.

Stanford was consequently required to rely heavily on its perimeter shooting, which never emerged. The Cardinal shot 33.3 percent from the floor and 25.9 percent from downtown for the game.

Harvard also prevented a Maples Pavilion crowd renowned for its rowdiness from becoming a factor in the game. The Crimson opened the game with an 18-7 run and never lost its poise, answering every scoring run by the Cardinal with a clutch basket of its own.

“This means more for the Ivy League than Harvard,” Delaney-Smith said. “At some point we had to get a little respect, and as a 16 seed, I thought we didn’t get it. [The Ivy League] has had some great athletes, and our top team has always been competitive.”