Peljto contributed a hard-earned basket and Moore hit two threes, but the Wildcats turned to the charity stripe to put Harvard away.
The Crimson finished the game 11-of-31 from behind the arc, while the Wildcats hit 8-of-28.
“We probably overuse the three,” Delaney-Smith said. “That’s how we’ve played all year. We are a big three-point shooting team.”
While Peljto’s 15 points were well below her season average of 21.3, she grabbed eight rebounds and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the line.
“They doubled Hana in the paint whenever she got the ball, so she couldn’t make the moves she usually does,” Cserny said.
Despite being defended by six-footer Megan Mahoney, the 5’2 Moore put up 14 points, including 4-for-9 shooting from behind the arc. Moore coordinated Harvard’s offense while playing all 40 minutes.
Injuries to sophomore guard Rochelle Bell and freshman guard Jessica Holsey hampered the Crimson heading into the game. Holsey has been battling a subluxing right shoulder for much of the Ivy season, and her time on the floor last Sunday was limited to two minutes supported by a brace.
“While I was in the game, I was somewhat hesitant about reaching for the ball on defense,” Holsey said. “Other than that, I felt ready to play.”
Bell, Harvard’s starting shooting guard, has a history of ankle problems and injured her left ankle in practice the day before the game. She played in spite of the injury, but suffered another sprain—this one to her right ankle—while guarding Wecker in the second half. Though she had to be helped off the floor, Bell still tallied 27 minutes of playing time while making major contributions on defense.
“It hurt pretty bad at the time and the funny thing about adrenaline is that it can make you play when you really are in a lot of pain,” Bell said. “Thinking about the chance to upset this team and the desire to continue the season made me want to be back in there.”
Wecker led the Wildcats with 21 points, followed closely by Ohlde with 20. Wecker, who is also the Big 12 javelin champion and an Olympic hopeful in the event, further demonstrated her athleticism with nine rebounds and three steals.
Both the Wildcats and the Crimson return not only their entire starting lineups next year, but—with the exception of Ides—their entire rosters. However, Kansas State’s starters can already appreciate the benefits of experience, as Kansas natives Ohlde, Wecker and Koehn have been playing together since their AAU years.
Koehn tallied 17 points for the game, including four three-pointers. During the first half, her success from behind the arc was devastating for a Harvard team trying to double in the post. The Crimson did not use its usual 3-2 defense as much in the first half as in the second, a move that Delaney-Smith later regretted.
“[I was] thinking they run a 3-2 and I think they are very talented from the corners,” Delaney-Smith said. “It also leaves more stuff on the weak side block to either rebound or defend. It has a weakness and Ohlde and Wecker scared me on the weak side block and a lot of the shooters scared me in the corners. So we did not use that in the first half.”
—Staff writer Jessica T. Lee can be reached at lee45@fas.harvard.edu.