At last, with a resounding 77-65 victory over Yale on Friday night, the Harvard women’s basketball team clinched the Ivy League championship and earned a trip to the NCAA tournament. The Crimson boasted the nation’s first automatic bid this year.

“We’ve battled for first place for three of the last four years and hit the dust the last weekend, so to speak,” said Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith. “To do it this early feels really good.”

With 8.6 seconds left, down by 12 points, Yale called a timeout during which Harvard took a bit of last-minute advice prior to the celebration.

“I said, ‘Let’s be sportsmanlike. Let’s be classy. We are champions. We don’t celebrate until the buzzer,’” Delaney-Smith said.

And when the buzzer sounded, the players swarmed the floor in a massive team hug. Hordes of photographers and young fans surrounded the team as they accepted the Ivy plate and cut down the net.

The last time Harvard went to the tournament was the 1997-98 season, in which the Crimson won the Ivy title and Allison Feaster ’98 led the nation in scoring. Harvard’s team made history that year by beating Stanford to become the first No. 16 seed to take down a No. 1 seed.

On Saturday, Harvard defeated Brown, 76-63, to give the seniors a win in their final game at Lavietes and earn the team its 12th straight victory. There were no nostalgic feelings after the game because the team was focused on the games to come, the next being at Dartmouth tomorrow.

“Nothing has sunk in,” Monti said. “This is not a closing. We’ve still another two weeks from it all being done. So right now, it’s all good feelings. There’s nothing sad here tonight.”

The NCAA selection show will be broadcast live on ESPN next Sunday at 5 p.m. at which time 33 at-large teams and 31 automatic qualifiers will discover their tournament seedings and pairings. The first round games of will be played at 16 host sites throughout the nation on March 15 and 16.

Harvard 76, Brown 63

Though the Bears threatened in the first half, Harvard came through with a strong second half to pull out a comfortable victory.

Peljto scored a game-high 21 points and contributed nine rebounds. Nunamaker tallied two career-highs with 13 points and 8 rebounds on the night, and Barnard earned 10 points in her homecourt farewell.

Harvard began senior night with an appropriate line-up—seniors Jenn Monti, Sharon Nunamaker, Lindsay Ryba, and co-captains Laura Barnard and Katie Gates. One day before, they assured they would be the seventh senior class in a row to graduate with at least one ring.

“I’ve always said that this senior class provided a lot of motivation, determination, poise even though our statistical leaders are younger,” Delaney-Smith said. “The senior class’ contributions have been incredible and invaluable—all five of them.”

The Bears played without sophomore Nyema Mitchell, who leads the Ivies and ranks in the top 20 in the nation with 61 blocks in 25 games. Mitchell sustained an ankle injury in the first minute of play against Dartmouth on Friday night.

Yet Brown (5-21, 2-11) still got off to a good start, scoring the first seven points. The Crimson didn’t get on the scoreboard until Gates sunk a trey at 17:33.

Harvard traded baskets with the Bears, taking its first lead at 12:37, when Monti made a nifty shot for two and a 13-12 advantage after Brown committed a shot clock violation.

However, the lead was short-lived, as a steal followed by a layup from sophomore Stephanie Bruce turned the game back in Brown’s favor, 21-20. The Bears built on the leverage, leading the Crimson by as much as 28-22 with 4:29 remaining.

“It was tough to establish a rhythm,” Monti said. “We went with a different group at the beginning—that’s as capable as any group—and I think it just took us a few minutes to get our rhythm.”

Harvard climbed back to knot the game at 32 at the close of the half, on the strength of Monti and Peljto, who scored four points apiece in the interval.

The second half played out more to the Crimson tune, as a Brown lane violation at 15:38 sent Gates to the charity line, where she made one of two, breaking a 38-38 tie and giving Harvard a lead it would not relinquish for the remainder of the game.

The Crimson built on its advantage, leading by as many as 22 thanks to a 23-6 run.

Harvard 77, Yale 65

Was there a sense of relief on Friday night, when Harvard’s seniors finally earned the right to hold the Ivy plate?

“More than I think I can put in words,” senior Katie Gates said. “The seniors have gone through so much. It’s nice to finally be here.”

The Crimson seemed more than ready to claim its title, taking a 2-0 lead on two free throws from Peljto, an advantage Harvard would hold for the entire game. The Crimson extended its lead to 10 when, with just over 12 minutes left in the half, Monti made a long pass to Cserny and she sent the ball to Peljto, standing alone in the paint, who made a layup for a score of 13-3. Six seconds later, Cserny assisted another Peljto basket, as Harvard climbed on the scoreboard.

The Crimson’s biggest lead came with 2:45 remaining, as Nunamaker scored two to give Harvard an 18-point lead at 40-22. A trey from sophomore Tricia Tubridy at the buzzer game the Crimson a 45-29 advantage at the half.

Harvard refused to surrender its lead in the second half, though the Elis (14-13, 7-7) proved to be a very physical team.

“It got a little bit rough,” Cserny said. “I guess they didn’t know what to do against our offense—that’s why they started to become aggressive. But it didn’t work out for them.”

Elbows were given, and Yale senior Kate Merker knocked down Barnard as she went up for a shot at 12:54.

“We just wanted to keep our composure,” Peljto said. “It got a little ugly at the end and we tried to have class and finish off the game and that’s what we did.”

With 9:22 remaining, Monti sent off a scoop pass over two Eli defenders to Peljto, who promptly scored two, for a score 66-45. It was just one of Monti’s 10 assists for the night, in addition to four steals.

Yale began to close the lead, with threes from sophomore Bonnie Smith and sophomore Christina Phillips and several Crimson fouls helping. Two free throws from freshman Tory Mauseth cut Harvard’s lead to 10, 66-56, with just over six minutes left.

But the Crimson held on, assisted by Cserny and Peljto, who both registered double-doubles. Peljto had two game-highs with 24 points and 13 rebounds, as well as two blocks. Cserny tallied 19 points and 10 boards, along with four steals.