Dominant Third Quarter Lifts Harvard Over Holy Cross

Harvard women’s basketball (5-5, 0-0 Ivy) returned home on Wednesday night and gave Lavietes Pavilion exactly what it had been waiting for: a dominant second-half performance and a 61-46 win over Holy Cross (3-5, 0-0 Patriot League). The Crimson’s victory was powered by a strong defensive stand in the third quarter.

At the halftime break, Harvard trailed 31-29 after a first half defined by cold shooting and early turnovers. Harvard opened 0-6 from the three-point line and repeatedly came up empty on second-chance looks, allowing Holy Cross to hang on to a narrow lead. The Crimson then kept the Crusaders scoreless in the third quarter, ripping off a 17-0 run to flip the game on its head. Holy Cross could not register a single point in the frame as Harvard cranked up its press, flew around in traps, and turned rebounds into rhythm offense.

“I told the team I’ll never miss an opportunity to celebrate a win,” Harvard’s Head Coach Carrie Moore said after the game. “We’ve been on the road, our travel has been crazy, the girls are heading into finals — we are hanging on by a thread to get through this week. I kind of felt like the game was going to feel like this a little bit, but just really proud of them to pull away. The third quarter was tremendous. To hold a team to zero points in a quarter… I don’t know that we’ve ever done that since I’ve been here.”

The third-quarter surge started with a familiar combination for the home team. Coming out of the break, senior forward Katie Krupa found sophomore guard Alayna Rocco, who popped to the wing for a three that pushed Harvard in front, 32-31.

The Crimson’s intensified pressure immediately rattled Holy Cross. Turnovers from the Crusaders fed layups to Harvard’s senior guard Saniyah Glenn-Bello, who finished despite lots of defensive contact. Clutch free throws from junior captain Abigail Wright stretched the lead. Rocco buried another triple, Glenn-Bello knifed in for another finish, and the Crimson never looked back, taking a 46-31 advantage into the fourth quarter as the visitors continued to get blanked on the scoreboard.

At the center of that run was the notorious full-court defense Moore has built the program around.

“We really felt the being down two at half, and we knew we could play so much better,” Moore said. “We really encouraged them to get after them in the press. For whatever reason, we were somewhat taking it easy on them - we like to trap before and after half court, and I felt like we were kind of running away from our traps when we needed to be really aggressive.”

The Crimson made the necessary adjustments at halftime. The team emerged in the second half of the contest and inflicted significantly more pressure on the Crusaders’ transitions.

“They did that to start the third quarter, and it completely shifted the momentum of the game,” Moore added. “It starts with her in pretty much all that we do in the full court,” she said, nodding toward Glenn-Bello.

Glenn-Bello recorded a stat line that accurately matched her impact. The Staten Island, N.Y., native put up a game-high 14 points, most of them coming from inside the paint or at the line, all within the flow of the offense.

“Honestly, when I score, it’s really off my teammates,” the senior said, crediting the whole team’s effort. “Just having the flow on offense, making the right cuts when needed, and really honing in on my aggressive side. Being a senior right now, I understand my role, and my role is to be aggressive on offense, just making sure however I score is in the flow of our offense, never forcing anything.”

Behind Glenn-Bello, Wright quietly owned the glass, finishing the game with eight rebounds, and Krupa embraced her role as the team’s playmaker, tallying six assists alongside timely threes, all while fiercely protecting the rim.

“We talk, in all four years of my being here, about having a QB on the court,” Krupa said. “Someone who’s capable of making the right decisions with the ball, off cuts, off pin-downs, off flares, finding who’s open and being composed and poised in that position. That’s been a main goal of mine, especially now in that pinch spot. I’ve always had a little bit of a knack for court vision and passing, so it’s something I enjoy and need to capitalize on every game.”

For Harvard’s seniors, nights like this carry an extra layer of responsibility.

“Lots of things tangibly change as a senior,” Krupa said, reflecting on her role on the team. “Leadership is huge, your voice is huge, but more so setting the example on the court and leading the charge in that area, both in practice and games. Freshman year, you’re looking to the seniors; now you have no one to look to, and everyone’s looking to you. That’s what changes: the pressure that comes with that, but also the confidence and responsibility.”

Glenn-Bello echoed her classmate.

“These last four years and Coach Moore preparing us for this role,” she said. “Being seniors and leading the charge, just knowing we’re the go-to players. We have to lead everyone on the court. The preparation and the confidence that came with it are huge.”

In the fourth quarter, Harvard focused on game management and preventing the Crusaders from mounting a comeback attempt. Holy Cross finally broke its scoring drought early in the quarter, but each of its mini-runs were answered with fierce defense.

Krupa knocked down another three, Wright sliced to the rim for late layups, and reserves like Mary Hollensteiner, Aubrey Shaw, and Asani Ceaser added insurance buckets as the Crimson matched the Crusaders 15-15 in the final frame to lock in the 61-46 result.

For Moore, the win doubles as both a must-win home game and a springboard into a crucial stretch of practice time.

“This was a must-win game for us,” the coach said. “We’ve got to protect home court. Outside of [Glenn-Bello and Krupa], we’ve got a lot of players really playing big minutes for the first time in their Harvard careers. We’re asking them to grow up and mature rapidly. We have one more game on Friday, and then we get three weeks of working on us, and it couldn’t come at a better time.”

“December will be great for us to keep finding flow on offense,” she continued. “I want everyone to feel like Saniyah was saying, that they’re finding flow within what we’re doing, and defensively that we’re connected and able to execute the way we need to. If everyone can keep taking inches forward, we’ll be in a really good spot.”

On a cold December night in Cambridge, those inches looked like a 17-0 third quarter and a box score that reflected the kind of team Harvard wants to be, one that has seniors steering the ship, a deep roster that makes winning plays, and a defense capable of blanking an opponent for ten straight minutes.