W. Hoops Rams Rhode Island

An explosion of offense in the second half rocketed the Harvard women’s basketball team to a 86-82 victory over visiting Rhode Island.

Freshman forward Reka Cserny scored a career-high 27 points and made a key last-second block to secure the victory, while sophomore Hana Peljto led all scorers with 28 points, also a career high.

“You look at Reka and see how she can impact the game, and then you think, ‘wow she’s a freshman,’” Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “She’s a freshman! It’s really very exciting.”

The victory was one of the most impressive so far for the Crimson (5-3). Rhode Island (6-2) had come in red hot on a four game winning streak including a victory over Big East foe Providence.

In the first half, the Rams played like a team on fire from behind the arc. After both teams played a close game for the first ten minutes, Rhode Island went on a 8-0 run to take a 28-20 lead. The Rams were also dropping three-pointers left and right, at one point hitting five threes in a row, led by guard Lindsey O’Neil, who hit 3-of-5 in the first half alone. As a team, Rhode Island shot 18-of-31 from the field in the first half (58.1 percent), en route to a 44-36 halftime lead.

Even though Peljto and Cserny combined to score 23 in the first frame, the Crimson struggled on the boards and on defense. The Rams outrebounded Harvard 15-9 in the first half and were shooting and passing at will.

“If they’re going to be that hot from three-point range, you can’t play zone, so we didn’t [play zone] at all in the second half,” Delaney-Smith said.

The change was noticeable as the Crimson stormed back after halftime. The trio of Peljto, Cserny and junior forward Sarah Johnson caused havoc inside on both ends of the court. After a Tricia Tubridy three-pointer and a pair of Peljto free throws, senior guard Jenn Monti picked up a steal on defense. Monti took the ball down the court quickly and worked the ball into Peljto, who hit a short jumper while being fouled.

Her free throw tied the game at 50-50 and set the stage for an exciting final 15 minutes.

Harvard finally took the lead, 57-56, three minutes later when Johnson nailed two from the charity stripe. But Rhode Island refused to back down to the Crimson’s momentum. Led by the driving ability of forward Yatar Kuyateh, who finished with 16 points, the Rams hung around to the end.

Delaney-Smith took advantage of her team’s size inside to post up Cserny and Johnson, which left Peljto and Tubridy open to drain long-range shots. Better defensive rebounding also got Harvard transition baskets. A fast-break layup by sophomore guard Dirkje Dunham gave the Crimson its largest lead at 77-70.

When Rhode Island took to fouling near the end of the game, the strategy backfired at first as the Crimson was almost perfect from the line. Cserny, Peljto and Johnson went a combined 20-for-21 from the line for the game, many of those made down the stretch.

But missed free throws down the stretch by other players almost cost the Crimson the victory. Clinging to a 79-76 lead with two minutes left, Dunham hit only one of two shots. Rhode Island’s pressure defense led to a Monti turnover, and the Rams scored once again to bring the score to 80-78. But Cserny’s clutch free throws a few seconds later gave Harvard a four-point advantage again.

Realizing the attempts were futile against Cserny, Rhode Island fouled Monti the next time, and she missed both shots. Another timely basket by guard Denise King got the Rams to within 82-80, and they fouled Monti again. This time, the senior hit one of two, but Rhode Island got down the floor and hit one last jumper to pull within one.

Dunham got back to the line for Harvard but once again could only hit one shot, giving the Rams a final chance down 84-82.

King drove down the lane with eight seconds remaining, but her attempt at a layup was met by the 6’3 Cserny, who blocked the shot and scooped up the loose ball to secure the victory.

It seemed fitting that Cserny made the final play, as she and Peljto combined to have the highest-scoring night of their young careers.

“It won’t work every time because I think teams will read that we are scoring so many points and play more defense on us,” Cserny said.

Lucky for the Crimson, Rhode Island forgot to brush up before showing up at Lavietes.

Harvard’s next contest is on Saturday at cross-town rival Northeastern, before heading off for a holiday trip to Syracuse on Dec. 20.