W. Basketball Buries Danes 68-57

Usually starting a basketball game with a 20-1 run over the first 10 minutes is a good thing.

But in the case of the exam-fatigued Harvard women's basketball team, the early success set the Crimson back. Harvard's once solid defense fell completely apart and its shooting went cold as Albany outscored the struggling Crimson 40-14 over the next 20 minutes.

But the Crimson came back. Two steals by sophomore guard Jenn Monti ignited a furious 18-0 rally that put Harvard up 52-41 with 5:43 left. The Crimson (10-5, 3-0 Ivy) held on this time, defeating the Great Danes (5-14) by a score of 68-57.

"I was proud if their comeback," Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. "I can never predict what we'll do this particular game year-in and year-out, so I'll take the win."

Before the first Monti steal, Harvard had scored one basket in the last 11:11. But then she swatted the ball away from Albany freshman Jess McGinlay, and drove in for the easy layup. The basket energized a crowd that had fallen dead silent up until then.

On the Great Dane's next possession, senior guard Courtney Egelhoff got the rebound off of a missed Albany shot, and was fouled over the back on the rebound. She hit two free throws on the one-in-one to cut the Albany lead to three.

Then after the subsequent inbound pass, Monti stole the ball again and was immediately fouled. She kept up the Crimson's clutch free-throw shooting, hitting both shots on a one-and-one to bring Harvard within one.

"I think player-to-player we matched up well on the outside with them," Monti said. "Our plan was to pressure them and force them to the left every time, and I felt they were handing it a bit."

With the momentum clearly in its favor, Harvard took control of the game. On its next four possessions, the Crimson went inside to senior center Melissa Johnson every time, and every time Harvard scored. Even on one possession when a pass to Johnson went awry, the ball found its way into the hands of junior guard Lisa Kowal, who hit the open jumper for the score.

Up until that point, Johnson had been held without a single point.

"I think they put a lot of pressure on our inside game," Monti said. "We just needed to turn it up defensively."

The Crimson, unlike earlier in the game, managed to play tough with the lead the rest of the way . The Great Danes never cut the lead to less than eight in the last seven minutes, and Harvard held on for the victory.

"That's one thing we've talked about--we're not tough enough," Delaney-Smith said. "We let teams back in. We get reticent."

Harvard came out of the gates on fire, building a 20-1 lead and holding Albany without a field goal for the first 10:40 of the game. With usual starting forward, Katie Gates, a sophomore still sitting out due to her concussion suffered last weekend, freshman Bree Kelley started in her place, and lit the court up, scoring 10 of her 16 points for the game in the opening minutes.

But then demise of the Harvard game on both ends on the court in the middle 20 minutes of the game was a complete shock to all who watched.

"That was a bad way to start," Delaney-Smith said. "Maybe we got cocky, arrogant, lazy, or all three of these things. We shouldn't let that happen."

The Harvard defense seemed to be a step slow, frequently getting beaten down the court and giving up easy shots. Megan Buchanan in particular tore up the Crimson, leading all scorers with 26 points. McGinlay was also solid, hitting 5-of-7 from the field and scoring 12 points.

In the first half, the Crimson held Albany to just 22.2 percent shooting, while building up a 32-23 halftime lead. But in the second half, Harvard allowed the Great Danes to shoot 53.8 percent.

"It was definitely a game of ups and downs," said captain Laela Sturdy, who led all Crimson scorers with 17 points. "Overall, I think we were a little flat. We made a couple of defensive errors."

The Harvard offense was equally atrocious to begin the second half. The team hit only 1-of-15 shots before the Monti layup. With the inside pressure tight, the Crimson was forced to take more outside shots than usual, and was unable to convert.

"That was an awful start to the second half." Sturdy said. "We were getting decent shots, they just weren't falling. We may not quite yet have our rhythm back after exams. That's why we have this game before the Ivy League schedule [resumes.]"

It was the timeout with 10:47 remaining and Harvard trailing 41-34 that turned the game back around.

"I was very angry at them," Delaney-Smith said. "I said a lot of bad, nasty things to them, and it worked."

The timeout allowed the Crimson players to refocus themselves and get their heads back into the game.

"We got some energy and some fire back after our timeouts," Sturdy said. "It was a key with the steals. We got a couple layups. We were able to heighten the defensive pressure."

Jenn Monti had the most impressive stat line of the day, with 10 points, six steals, six assists, and only three turnovers. But more importantly, her tenacity after the timeout brought the team and the crowd back to life.

Now the Crimson, presently tied for first with Penn at the top of the Ivy standings, will look ahead to its road trip to New York next week when it takes on Cornell and Columbia.

After posting its best start in school history, the Big Red (10-6, 2-2 Ivy) should be tough competition, while Columbia (3-12, 2-2 Ivy) has posted surprising Ivy wins over Cornell and Princeton, after starting the year 1-11.

"Cornell is one of the teams to beat early on," Delaney-Smith said. "They have solid players at every position and just enough depth. I think they'll be tough to beat up there."

Likely, the Crimson will need to put forth a full 40-minute effort each time to have any chance of coming out of New York with its perfect Ivy record intact.