Notebook: New Holsey carries Crimson up, and down

Make no mistake. Junior guard Jessica Holsey had a tremendous game at the offensive end. En route to a career high 28 points, she drove and finished, knocked down jumpers and buried five threes, most in crunch time, some from distances only attempted in MTV’s Rock-and-Jock basketball games.

“Obviously she was the difference-maker in the game today,” Rhode Island coach and living legend Tom Garrick said. “She wasn’t afraid to take big shots, and that’s what makes you able to make shots.”

But there was another side to her game that was not quite so pleasing, especially to her coach.

“I’d like a little more defense, to be honest,” coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “No one can score against her. If she puts her mind to it, she can stop anyone…I want that all the time from her.”

Holsey also led Harvard with six turnovers.

HOT POTATO

Speaking of turnovers, they certainly were aplenty last evening. The Crimson committed 24 in the game—16 in the first half alone—and the Rams had 20.

“I think our problem was we had a lot of mental breakdowns, a lot of turnovers,” Holsey said. “We didn’t play our best game today, I’ll just say that.”

There was no question for Delaney-Smith.

“They were all mental errors,” she said. “I think Rhode Island’s a good team and they’re really well coached. But they didn’t do anything extraordinary to us to cause those turnovers. It was not anything about our system. It was about our mental state”

The last time Harvard handed the ball over 24 times was Feb. 13, when the Crimson was also able to overcome so many miscues and topped Brown 70-64.

DESPERATE KNEE-ED

After connecting on five of eight three-point attempts and scoring 26 in the Rams’ opener against Northeastern on Friday, URI’s senior guard Peta Kneen definitely had the attention of the Harvard coaching staff.

“She was not [supposed] to get two threes tonight,” Delaney-Smith said.

For the first half, all went according to plan, and the Sydney, Australia native was limited to a miss on a single attempt from behind the arc while going one of seven from the floor.

But she caught fire in the second frame, hitting four of five threes and six of nine field goals. Included in that was a memorable two-and-a-half-minute stretch wherein Kneen and Holsey did battle, with Kneen scoring nine points and Holsey responding with seven.

Fortunately for the Crimson, Kneen was charged with her fifth foul with a little over a minute and a half remaining in the game and would not be on the floor in the overtime period.

“That helped us immensely,” Delaney-Smith said. “They didn’t have a go-to shooter. They needed [her].”

OVER BEFORE IT STARTED

Freshmen guard Lindsay Hallion saw her first collegiate season come to a rather abrupt end last week. During practice, the Westwood, Mass., native tore her ACL and will not be able to return this year.

“It was definitely a big blow when Lindsay went down,” Holsey said. “She is very talented.”

Hallion had been playing very solid ball so far this year and would have likely had the opportunity to contribute immediately, a rare situation for a freshman.

“I’ve never coached a woman like Lindsay Hallion, with her jump shot and her one-on-one ability and her athleticism,” Delaney-Smith said. “So we’re very sad that we lost her. But we’ll have her next year.”

—Staff writer J. Patrick Coyne can be reached at coyne@fas.harvard.edu.