Still, Harvard was characteristically sloppy, primarily in the second half, as the Crimson turned the ball over 21 times and allowed the Friars 16 steals.
“We were up by a lot, but we got careless with the ball,” co-captain Tricia Tubridy said.
However, Providence was not able to capitalize much on Harvard’s miscues, as the Crimson’s transition defense made up for the errors.
Rhode Island 73, Harvard 57
Though Harvard led 30-27 at halftime, the Crimson’s defensive lapses in the second half proved costly and the Rams sealed a 73-57 victory on Dec. 20.
“Our main problem was that we just weren’t aggressive enough and once they got a lead, we were sort of afraid of losing the game,” Cserny said.
URI (7-4) roared out of the locker room with a 23-10 run, grabbing a 10-point advantage at 50-40 with 11:34 remaining. Though Harvard cut into that lead, the Rams capitalized on slips in the Crimson’s zone defense to notch 32 points in the paint.
“We have been working a lot on help defense—first of all, playing the ball tougher, and then if the person gets beat, playing the ball on rotation,” Cserny said. “[Against URI] either the help was late, or if the help was there, the rotation was late and they had easy shots.”
Junior Katie Murphy made her first career start at shooting guard, as sophomore regular Jess Holsey missed the game with a dislocated shoulder.
“I think we definitely missed Jess,” Tubridy said. “She’s just a talented player who we definitely could have used in that game.”
Sophomore guard Laura Robinson made up for Holsey’s production, tallying a career-high 15 points just after notching 14 against Boston University on Dec. 14. Peljto also registered 15 points and Tubridy rounded out Harvard’s double-digit scorers with 14.
Just two days earlier, Rams’ head coach Boe Pearman had announced that she was taking a leave of absence for “health reasons,” effective immediately.
“I think that they were definitely riding an emotion high that fired them up for the game,” Tubridy said. “We came in and we were just flat that game.”
—Staff writer Jessica T. Lee can be reached at lee45@fas.harvard.edu.