Long Beach State 72, Harvard 67
On Saturday, Harvard appeared to be well on its way to punching its ticket to the final, holding a 23-point lead over Long Beach State with 16:15 remaining in the game.
However, a furious second-half rally by the 49ers put that plan on hold, as Long Beach State (5-2) stormed back to beat the Crimson, 72-67.
With 12:47 to play, the 49ers immediately began to turn the game around, going on a 23-2 run over the next seven minutes, which cut the lead to 60-59.
The lead finally shifted hands with 3:06 remaining, after junior forward Ella Clark hit a three to put LBSU up by one. The 49ers would not relinquish that lead, largely in part to Clark who earned five more points down the stretch and had 17 for the game.
“We get conservative, we get cautious [and] we don’t play our game when the heat’s on,” said Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith. “I can’t remember a game in my last 30 years that we’ve lost a [23]-point lead, so I’m pretty disappointed about it to be honest.”
The first half had been a different story for the Crimson. Harvard had success against the 49ers’ press, building a 39-26 lead at the break in the process. Fagbenle scored 10 of her 15 points in the first frame, and sophomore guard Shilpa Tummala put up all 6 of her points in the opening half, while playing in front of her hometown.
“We were just having so much fun with each other [in the first half],” McDonnell said. “We weren’t thinking. We were playing, but there was no thinking out there.”
Yet, Harvard could not repeat its first-half success. The Crimson turned the ball over 18 times in the second frame, finishing with 28 on the game. These turnovers led to 28 LBSU points, ultimately proving to be the difference.
“It was obviously disappointing that we weren’t able to sustain that lead, but we learned from that experience,” Fagbenle said. “[It’s] something that obviously hurt a lot, and we will never ever repeat that.”
One obstacle that Harvard had to overcome in both games was the absence of its leading scorer Christine Clark. The co-captain missed both games of the tournament with an injury that she suffered in the team’s previous game against St. John’s.
“[Clark is] obviously a very important piece of our team,” said Delaney-Smith. “She has a level of work ethic and intensity and leadership that when we can’t have her on the floor, we miss it. That was certainly the case in both games.”
The loss moved the Crimson into the consolation game, while the 49ers moved on to play Arizona State in the championship.