Cserny, who sprained her ankle late in Wednesday’s overtime loss to Northeastern, watched Saturday night’s game in street clothes.

“Having Reka injured is a big downer for us,” Mannering said, “but we just pulled together as a team.”

Delaney-Smith said it was an easy call to bench the three-time All-Ivy center.

“It shouldn’t affect us,” she said. “I’ve sat Reka in games at crunch time. So this team knows that, as much as we love Reka, it’s not about one player.”

Cserny did not appear to be worried about her ankle, saying she would try to practice today to prepare for tomorrow’s game against Boston University.

“The trainer just said that it’s 98 percent,” Cserny said.

DALTON SURPRISES

Guard Kyle Dalton, a sophomore from Tucson, Ariz., had a career night, scoring 7 points on two threes and providing a visible emotional boost in the second half.

The Crimson entered halftime flat-footed, with a three-point lead and 11 first-half turnovers to its credit.

Dalton responded with verve, stemming the Blue Devils’ last 4-0 run on a late three, which gave Harvard a comfortable 51-38 lead. Her clutch shooting energized Delaney-Smith and the Crimson bench.

“One of the things we were trying to get Kyle to do was be comfortable and instinctive with the system,” Delaney-Smith said. “And she’s doing that now, and if we can continue to keep her that way, then she’s going to hit lots of threes for us. She’s one of our best three-point shooters.”

Dalton said she was glad for the playing time.

“I think definitely we all get excited when someone who doesn’t play as often gets in,” Dalton said, “and it’s exciting when they play well, too.

“I was happy that my teammates responded to that.”

In the second half, Harvard blitzed the nets on 60.9 percent shooting, including 50 percent from three. That padded the Crimson’s insurmountable position.

“We settled down and let our game come to us,” Dalton said.

—Staff writer Alex McPhillips can be reached at rmcphill@fas.harvard.edu.