But what really allowed the Crimson to pull away was its stifling defense, a 2-3 zone that gave Columbia fits the entire game.

“[Columbia] didn’t like our zone, and we were anticipating their passes really well,” Delaney-Smith said. “They have some nice shooters but we were able to get out to them most of the time.”

“We run a make and miss offense,” added sophomore point guard Brogan Berry, who had seven assists and two steals in the game. “We were making our shots tonight, so we were able to focus on defense.”

With Columbia’s outside game stone cold—the Lions shot just 29.0% the entire game—it went inside to junior forward Judie Lomax looking for answers. Lomax, who led the NCAA in rebounding at 14.3 per game last year, scored a game-high 20 points, a concession that Delaney-Smith was willing to give considering that the star was held in check on the glass.

“Our main focus was finding a body and boxing out,” Delaney-Smith said. “We held [Lomax] to six rebounds; I’m pretty happy with that.”

“I wasn’t focused so much on getting my own rebounds, but I was just trying to make sure to keep her off the boards,” Markley added.

With Markley’s stellar performance in the paint and a strong supporting cast around the perimeter—guards freshmen Victoria Lippert and junior Jackie Alemany contributed 11 and seven points, respectively—Harvard jumped out to a 20-point advantage with just under six minutes to play, marking its largest lead of the night. From that point on, the Crimson cruised comfortably to its seventh victory at home this season.

Harvard’s 18-point rout of the Lions proved that the Crimson will be a major player for the Ivy title—a prize that last belonged to the squad in 2008.

“We just have to take one game at a time,” Berry said. “We have to play each game like it’s the title game.”

Delaney-Smith pointed out that Harvard had won the title before, even with early losses in conference play, clearly downplaying the heartbreaking 45-44 loss to Dartmouth just two weeks ago.

“Nobody’s going to run the table,” Delaney-Smith said. “Columbia is one of the better teams in the league, and I don’t think anybody is going to run the table, because they’ll have to go through us.”

—Staff writer Kevin T. Chen can be reached at ktchen@fas.harvard.edu.