It was only after Cserny’s key defensive play on Force and Moore’s subsequent free throws with seconds remaining that Harvard could feel secure.
Cserny had 17 points on the night while Force led all scorers with 27.
Harvard 90, Columbia 62
Friday night against Columbia (10-11, 3-5), the Crimson went into halftime with a 39-29 lead and withstood an early second-half surge by the Lions to cruise a 28-point win.
Harvard jumped on top of Columbia early behind Peljto, who scored 18 of her team’s first 28 points as Harvard built an early lead. The reigning Ivy League Player of the Year eventually tied her career-high with 36 points against the Lions, earning Ivy Player of the Week honors for her efforts.
“I think what Columbia tried to do was spread out their defense to stop our outside shooting, and that opened up penetration and the inside game more,” Peljto said. “They also defended us in a man-to-man defense, which few teams have done for an entire game this year. We were able to run and execute our plays.”
Despite falling behind early, the Lions battled back behind Sue Altman. After a Peljto layup increased the Crimson advantage to 13 with just over seven minutes remaining, the transfer from Holy Cross scored ten of her team’s next 14 points to pull Columbia within ten at the half.
But after a steal and a layup in the first minute of the second half that cut Harvard’s lead to six, Altman was held scoreless until she connected on two free throws with just over ten minutes left to play in the game.
By then, the Crimson had widened the gap to over 20 points and was on its way to victory.
“[Altman] was the key to their offense,” Moore said. “So we focused on communicating so we could stop her in transition. In the second half we decided to face-guard her in order to limit the number of touches she could get.”
Peljto recorded her eighth double-double of the season, pulling down ten rebounds in the win. Cserny and junior guard Dirkje Dunham each had 13 points for the Crimson while junior forward Tricia Tubridy grabbed ten boards.
Next weekend, Harvard takes on Penn and Princeton on the road. Both teams are coming off losses to Brown and victories over Yale this weekend.
While the Crimson already has a win over each team this season, it is taking nothing for granted as it prepares for the contests.
“We realize that we are the team to beat now, and that everyone will bring their best game against us,” Peljto said. “We have to be ready to play every night.”
—Staff writer Kathryn J. Hodel can be reached at hodel@fas.harvard.edu.