“[Cserny is] just a really smart player so she’s going to know what adjustments to make,” Delaney-Smith said. “What happens to Reka is people push her and body her—that’s how people are playing her to take her out of her game.”

Cserny responded in the second with a monster 22-point performance and finished the contest with a game-high eight rebounds.

Harvard also adapted its defense around players such as BU forward Larissa Parr, who stands 6’0 and plays even bigger.

“[Parr] was really strong, so we were trying to get around her instead of pushing her out of the paint because we couldn’t really do that,” Cserny said. “So I guess we just adjusted well there. At halftime, Kathy told us to move our feet more on defense, and I think that disturbed her because she didn’t have the height to shoot over us.”

The Crimson coupled its outstanding accuracy from the floor with aggressive defense. Harvard tallied 11 steals, including five from Peljto. Peljto was also a constant double-team threat, as many a BU player found herself stuck in a corner with Peljto’s arms blocking the options on one side.

“[Peljto’s] in the locker room saying, ‘This is the best defensive game I’ve ever had,’ and it is,” Delaney-Smith said. “We thought we could step up and put pressure on the ball. We have the athleticism. In years past, we haven’t been as quick in some positions, but I think we have everything. We have quickness, we have height, we have depth—we have everything in order to do that.”

While Harvard is not scheduled to play until Saturday at Rhode Island, it may make up its contest against Lafayette on Wednesday. After battling the Rams this weekend, the Crimson takes on Providence next Monday and will then have a four-day break before facing the last of its scheduled ranked opponents, No. 25 Rutgers on Dec. 30 at Lavietes.

—Staff writer Jessica T. Lee can be reached at lee45@fas.harvard.edu.