Freshman Katie Benzan, a staple of Harvard offense and its leading scorer, was quiet throughout the game. Often being pressed by sophomore guard Sydney Jordan, Benzan simply couldn’t get it going on offense. She finished the game with eight points on 3-of-11 shooting from the field.

“Katie is the kind of player that, she actually can create her own shot but she’s five foot four, really, let’s call a spade a spade,” Delaney-Smith said. “If your intention is to stop someone like that from scoring, you can. They did it well by switching all screens. What we didn’t do well is punish them for that.”

In the fourth quarter, the Crimson made a late run at the Tigers—pressing for most of the quarter, Harvard forced six turnovers. Scoring on three possessions in a row while holding Princeton scoreless over the same span, the Crimson pulled within 10 points with just over six minutes left on the clock.

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Despite coming close late, Harvard fell into another slump to close out the game—after a Benzan jumper cut it to 10 with 6:10 on the clock, the Crimson was held without a field goal for the next four and a half minutes. In that span the Tigers scored 12 while Harvard made only a free throw.

“We couldn’t get the ball in the basket and they would get a rebound and we’re right back where we started,” co-captain Destiny Nunley said. “I think that it just seems like the recurring theme is that we just really needed to score.”

—Staff writer Troy Boccelli can be reached at troy.boccelli@thecrimson.com.