Harvard (10-7, 3-1 Ivy) 100 at Brown (9-11, 1-3 Ivy) 83
With Brown holding a 51-50 lead one minute into the third quarter, Harvard used two separate runs of 10-0 and 15-3 over the next ten minutes to take a 78-59 advantage. The Bears battled back, going on their own 21-7 run over the next five minutes to make it a 85-80 with four minutes left in regulation. A Justine Gaziano three 30 seconds later made it a 87-83 contest, but the Crimson scored the game’s last 13 points to win going away.
Harvard’s Katie Benzan scored 25 points on the strength of 7-for-13 from three, while Madeline Raster put up 20 points with 4-for-8 from beyond the arc. Jadyn Bush and Jeannie Boehm had double-doubles with 18 points/12 rebounds and 14 points/11 rebounds (6 offensive), respectively. The Crimson shot well from the entire court, hitting 60 percent from two, 36 percent (14-for-39) from three and 76 percent (16-for-21) from the line. They also dominated on the glass, holding a +12 and +12 percent advantage. Harvard won their fifth game in six tries, ending the weekend with a split and an always important road victory in conference play.
Gaziano led all scorers with 28 points and Shayna Mehta finished with 23 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and three steals. Erika Steeves had a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Taylor Will put up 10 points. The rest of the roster added 5 points for the Bears. The team shot 32 percent (12-for-38) from three and 49 percent from two, but only managed 18 percent from beyond the arc and 25 percent from inside the arc in the decisive third quarter. A tough weekend for the Bears, as they got swept at home and find themselves in the eighth position in the Yale Undergraduate Sports Analaytics post-season model.
Princeton (12-6, 2-1 Ivy) 75 vs Cornell (7-8, 1-3 Ivy) 46
One night after her historic 45 point/14 rebound/four block performance at Columbia, Bella Alarie put up a more pedestrian 21 point/10 rebound/2 block night in the Princeton’s 29-point victory in Ithaca. The Tigers opened up a 17-7 lead after the first quarter and upped it to 36-22 at the half. After the Orange & Black started the third quarter on an 11-0 run, the Big Red never got any closer than 18 points.
On Friday night, Alarie and Littlefield accounted for 80 percent of the team’s points and 49 percent of their rebounds. Saturday night’s results reflected a more balanced Princeton attack. With the point guard scoring 10 points and securing a single offensive rebound, the twosome provided only 41 percent of the squad’s points and 28 percent of the rebounds. Adding to the team’s totals were senior starters Gabrielle Rush and Sydney Brown, who had a combined 14 points and 10 rebounds, as well as first-year reserve forward Lexi Weger, who scored a career-high 13 points over 17 minutes. While the team only shot 43 percent from inside the arc, they hit 38 percent (9-24) from three and 84 percent (16-for-19) from the charity stripe.
The Big Red struggled from the field, shooting only 40 percent from two and 15 percent (2-for-13) from beyond the arc. Laura Bagwell-Katalinich, Kate Sramac, and Samantha Widmann scored a combined 29 points on 13-for-25 (52 percent) shooting, but the rest of the team could only put up 23 points on 7-for-33 (21 percent). Cornell did manage to hold their own on the glass (37-40) and points in the paint (32-32), even though they were -10 in second chance points.
Princeton had a very good weekend, coming out of their three week hiatus to win two conference games on the road. Cornell, on the other hand, was swept at home by a combined 42 points and have a three-game losing streak as they welcome Dartmouth and Harvard next weekend.
Yale (13-6, 3-1 Ivy) 64 vs Dartmouth (8-9, 1-3 Ivy) 49
The Bulldogs did not have any letdown after their emotional buzzer-beating victory over Harvard on Friday night, using a stifling defense to defeat Dartmouth. Yale limited the Big Green to 35 percent two points shooting and 27 percent from three, while holding a rebounding advantage of +18 and +20 percent.
Yale only shot 25 percent (5-for-20) and 44 percent (7-for-16) from the free throw line, but made 51 percent from two. They also had positive results in assists (76 percent), points in the paint (+10) and second chance points (+10). The Bulldogs used the first and third quarters to build there lead, where they shot a combined 49 percent and were +19 on the boards on their way to 15 more points than their rivals from Hanover.
Forwards Alex Cade and Camilla Emsbo led the way for the Bulldogs with 15 points each, while Roxy Barahman added 11. Cade also had a career high 14 rebounds (8 offensive) with Barahman capturing nine and Megan Gorman pulling down eight. Cy Lippold and Isalys Quinones led the way for the Big Green with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Yale protected its home court in this weekend’s sweep (and kept Barahman from being dropped by her teammates during Friday’s post-game celebration) and sit a half game out of first place as they get ready to take on Princeton and Penn. Dartmouth may have lost on Saturday, but they did get a big road victory over Brown to split their weekend slate. They will next head up to Ithaca to take on Cornell on Friday night.
I always enjoy reading the women’s hoops recap.
Two corrections in the Princeton section — Princeton’s record is 10-8, not 12-6.
Also, Princeton’s player mentioned is Sydney Jordan, not Sydney Brown.