More Mo

Amid the throng of students who packed Lavietes Pavilion for last night’s showdown with Dartmouth, a large sign proclaimed “Gimme Some Mo.”

The Harvard women’s basketball team also needed some Mo, and junior forward Maureen McCaffery—the Mo in question—gave them just that.

“Maureen did a great job,” Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “She was phenomenal tonight for us.”

McCaffery rallied her team with 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting from behind the arc, grabbed eight boards, and had three blocks in the 70-67 Harvard victory.

The win, the Crimson’s eighth in a row, gave Harvard a share of the Ivy League title and set up a playoff game with Dartmouth to be held at Brown on Saturday. The winner will represent the Ivy League in the NCAA tournament.

McCaffery’s effort off the bench epitomized her contribution during the Crimson’s eight-game tear, during which she has averaged almost nine points a game and scored in double figures four times.

“Once she starts [shooting], she can’t miss,” senior captain Reka Cserny said. “Maybe the other teams don’t know it yet, but we all know.”

Dartmouth certainly knows about McCaffery now. After a poor-shooting first half—McCaffery was just 1-of-6 from the field with three points—she poured in 13 points during Harvard’s critical second-half run.

“Maureen is that kind of a player,” Delaney-Smith said. “But she has such enormous...confidence that she rushes. She was rushing in the first half—she knew she had the wide open shots. We knew that if Maureen would take her time, she would be awesome.”

Delaney-Smith knew something. And if she volunteered any halftime suggestions, then McCaffery surely must have taken them to heart.

The Big Green stormed out of the locker room with a 9-4 run, taking a 34-26 lead thanks, in part, two turnaround jumpers by center Elise Morrison.

“We were down and Kathy put me in,” McCaffery said. “[She] was telling everybody to go in there and look to shoot, [saying] we have nothing to lose now. ‘Everybody’s a shooter.’ So I just launched.”

McCaffery’s three with 15:53 left—just the second Harvard field goal of the half—pulled the Crimson within five at 34-29. And when the Dartmouth lead swelled to 47-33 on two free throws by guard Fatima Kamara, McCaffery again bailed out the struggling Crimson offense with a big three-pointer.

“She’s usually our go-to when we need a couple of threes,” Cserny said. “And she had a lot of confidence today.”

Perhaps the most thrilling three-pointer McCaffery attempted, nonetheless, was the one she missed with Harvard staring at a 51-36 deficit with 10:24 to go in the second half.

Rather than retreat to protect the backcourt against a Dartmouth squad that liked to run, McCaffery tore to the glass and ripped down her own offensive rebound amidst a crowd of hands vying for the ball. Before a Dartmouth defender could react to her inside position, McCaffery spun neatly toward the basket and dropped in a layup off the glass.

“They love the two seniors. They were going to do everything they could not to let it slip out of their hands,” Delaney-Smith said. “And Maureen epitomizes that emotion. That was a play based on ‘I’m going to do everything I can, I’m going to leave it on the court and let the cards fall where they fall.’”

Fall they did for McCaffery—right into the basket.

On the ensuing possession, McCaffery nailed another three-pointer from the right side, cutting the lead to 51-41.

“It really came together when we got our defensive stops,” McCaffery said. “We came back on offense and I made some shots. When that happens, it feels good.”

As the roaring crowd reached deafening levels, chanting “Let’s go Harvard!” on every offensive possession, McCaffery answered the call.

Her last basket, a smooth jumper off the dribble from the top of the key, sliced the Dartmouth lead to three and sent the crowd into an uproar.

“[The crowd] made an enormous difference,” McCaffery said. “That was amazing, and we’re so grateful.”

McCaffery’s spurt—and the crowd’s ear-shattering support—sparked a 26-4 Harvard run in less than eight minutes that gave the Crimson a 62-55 lead.

“It’s a championship game—things like that happen,” McCaffery said.

The Crimson has yet another championship game against Dartmouth slated for Saturday at 4 p.m. The teams’ second rematch carries with it the promise of an NCAA tournament berth.

And after a night like last night, McCaffery has already sent a message to the Big Green—but she’s not done yet.

“I think they’d better be ready,” McCaffery said. “We’re excited. We’re going to the [NCAA] tournament.”

Looks like the Big Green better get ready for some more Mo.

—Staff writer Aidan E. Tait can be reached at atait@fas.harvard.edu.