It was a familiar scenario for the Harvard women’s basketball team. With a little over five minutes remaining in the game, the Crimson found its lead cut to only one point and the ball in the hands of Cornell’s fast break.

But Harvard (10-8, 3-1 Ivy) put the past in the past and managed to retake a comfortable lead, pulling out the victory over the Big Red (8-10, 2-2), 67-57, Friday night at Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y.

Sophomore Christine Clark had a big night for Harvard, tallying 23 points, six rebounds, and five steals.

For a moment, though, it appeared that this game might end the same way that last week’s matchup versus Yale did—a contest in which the Crimson gave up a late advantage, leading to its first league loss of the season.

So when Cornell’s Stephanie Long hit a shot from beyond the arc to bring the home team within one, 54-53, it is no mystery what was going through the heads of Harvard’s players and coaches.

But this time, thanks to nine points from Clark in the last 4:13, the Crimson went on a 13-4 run and put the Big Red—and its own late-game meltdowns—to bed.

“I think overall, the game was definitely a little shaky for us,” co-captain Brogan Berry said. “It was a little up and down. But we pulled it together towards the very end and proved that we can definitely play in the Ivy League.”

After a back-and-forth first half, which resulted in a tie game at halftime, the beginning of the second half provided more of the same. Harvard jumped out to an 11-point lead at the start of the frame only to have Cornell rebound and cut the lead down to one.

It was Clark who initially stopped the bleeding for the Crimson at this point, going baseline-to-baseline after a steal led to a lay-up. And after a two-minute no-scoring lull, Clark once again increased Harvard’s lead as she shot up a trey of her own.

From then on, it was just a matter of hitting free throws for the Crimson, a team that, before Friday night, shot 76.5 percent from the charity stripe.

First up to the line was Berry after she drew a foul on the Big Red’s Spencer Lane. Berry hit both shots, earning her 11th and 12th points of the game.

Following Berry’s makes, Cornell was unable to score and was once again forced to foul. This time, Clark was sent to the line, and she promptly sank both attempts. Clark was followed by junior Emma Golen, who made Harvard’s sixth and seven consecutive free throws and extended its lead to 12, capping off an 11-0 run for Harvard.

Taylor Flynn and Kristina Danielak hit two straight buckets for the Big Red, but those were its last scratches on the scoreboard. A foul on the other end sent Clark back to the line, and she sealed the game, 67-57.

“We’ve been working a lot on last-second shots and scenarios in practice,” Berry explained. “That has really given us a lot of confidence going into these close games that we know what to do and shows that we’re thinking about how to win the game both mentally and physically.”

Junior Miriam Rutzen agreed with her co-captain, emphasizing the importance of numerous players and their contributions down the stretch.