The Harvard women’s basketball team sailed to an easy 90-62 victory over Columbia on Friday night before narrowly escaping rougher waters in its win over Cornell on Saturday.

The Crimson (16-4, 8-0 Ivy) survived a second-half rally by the Big Red (7-14, 1-7) to remain perfect in the Ivy League. The 77-71 victory over Cornell also extended the team’s winning streak to ten games.

With six games left to play in the regular season, Harvard is now two games ahead of second-place Brown in the Ivy race. While the Crimson does not face the Bears until its final game of the season, it will travel to Penn and Princeton this weekend for two critical league matchups.

Harvard 77, Cornell 71

With just 2:12 remaining in the second half, Cornell freshman Sarah Brown coolly stepped behind the arc and buried a three-pointer, erasing the last of a 17-point halftime deficit.

“Their comeback was a combination of their great shooting and us having a few defensive lapses and missing shots that we usually make,” junior forward Hana Peljto said.

With the game now tied at 69, the Crimson turned to its two most consistent players. Sophomore center Reka Cserny and Peljto scored Harvard’s next six points to extend the Crimson lead to 75-71 with 14 seconds to play.

Cserny then came up with a key block on the Big Red’s next possession and junior guard Bev Moore hit two free throws to seal the win for Harvard and complete her perfect night. Moore was 4-for-4 from the line and 2-for-2 from the field for the game.

“We showed poise in finishing out the game, even with their great effort to come back,” Peljto said.

The first half did not offer any indication that the game would result in such a dramatic finish. Harvard jumped out to an early 11-2 advantage and went into the half leading 42-25.

The Crimson built its lead with solid shooting complimented by tough defense. Harvard shot over 65 percent from the field and held Cornell to 10-for-30 shooting (1-for-8 from three-point range) in the opening frame.

Peljto scored 12 of her team-high 25 in the first half and it seemed as if the Crimson was on its way to another dominating Ivy win.

“We focused on being patient offensively and Hana was hitting good shots,” Moore said.

But in the second half, Harvard faced an energized and more aggressive opponent. Big Red junior Karen Force opened the half with two of her career-high five three-pointers to cut the Crimson lead to 11 and Cornell slowly closed that gap throughout the remainder of the half.

“Cornell is a team that is always ready to play us and one that never goes away regardless of the score,” Peljto said.