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W. Basketball Focuses On Defensive Effort

Gritty Crimson squad forces 24 Tigers turnovers in Friday night’s victory

“We’re mixing it up [defensively],” Delaney-Smith said. “Princeton struggled. I don’t think they ever figured it out.”

The Crimson has learned that effort on the defensive end translates into instantaneous offense and, as of late, victories.

“The first half of the season, we were making all of our shots,” said junior forward Kate Mannering. “And our defense just wasn’t cutting it.”

“If those shots didn’t fall,” she added, “we weren’t even close in games that we should have been winning.”

But as Friday night’s throttling of Princeton showed, the defensive emphasis has assuaged Harvard’s offensive woes. The Crimson poured in 27 points off turnovers, and countless other possessions began with a steal and a quick offensive setup on the perimeter.

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And when Princeton threatened to make it a game midway through the second half with a 9-0 run, bringing the score to 50-39, the Harvard defense stepped up again.

Over the next five minutes—from 11:11 to 6:07 in the latter frame—the Crimson held the Tigers without a point or an offensive rebound and put the game away with a 9-0 run of its own.

—Staff writer Aidan E. Tait can be reached at atait@fas.harvard.edu.

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