The Harvard women’s basketball team entered the new year with the taste of disappointment after Rutgers nudged the Crimson down to the .500 mark on Tuesday.

Harvard began the break with a 73-57 loss to Rhode Island on Dec. 20, but bounced back with a victory over Providence two days later.

Rutgers 77, Harvard 70

The crowd at Lavietes Pavilion was brought to its feet as senior point guard Bev Moore hit a three to bring the Harvard women’s basketball team within one point of Rutgers with 6:23 left to play last Tuesday night.

But Scarlet Knight (7-4) point guard Cappie Pondexter would not let the Crimson get any closer, as she scored 11 of Rutgers’ final 15 points on the way to a 77-70 victory. Pondexter, an All-American and last year’s Big East Rookie of the Year, led the Scarlet Knights with 30 points.

Harvard’s zone had been able to limit Rutgers’ paint penetration in the first half, but Pondexter muscled her way to 17 points in the second half.

“We knew how talented she was,” Crimson coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “We shouldn’t have let her get 30 points. We should have put a lid on that a little sooner, I guess…not that you can. That’s a player who can get her shot when she wants it.”

The Scarlet Knights gave Harvard every chance for a dramatic comeback by turning the ball over three times in the final two minutes. However, each game-tying opportunity passed by with missed three-pointers, and Rutgers iced the win.

The Crimson and Scarlet Knights exchanged the lead seven times in the first frame, but Rutgers grabbed a 39-33 advantage by halftime and did not surrender it again.

Junior center Reka Cserny and co-captain Hana Peljto filled the star-scorer roles for Harvard, with 23 and 21 points, respectively. Pondexter’s 30 points were just shy of her career-high of 31, and Dawn McCullouch notched 22.

Harvard 73, Providence 59

The Crimson rode a hot start to a 73-59 victory over the Friars at Alumni Hall on Dec. 22. Peljto led all scorers with 27 points and Cserny chipped in 25.

Peljto and Cserny piloted Harvard’s 14-3 run to open the game, and the Crimson extended its lead to as many as 18 points twice during the first frame, finishing the half with a 37-19 advantage.

The second period was more of the same, as the Crimson led by as many as 31 points.

“It was after the URI loss, so we were all mad about that game, and it was the last game before break, so we really wanted to finish strong,” Cserny said.

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.