Harmoni Turner and Katie Krupa delivered career scoring highs Saturday to carry Harvard women’s basketball to a homecourt 69-56 win over Penn.
Turner, the junior guard, is often the engine behind the Harvard offense, averaging just under 20 points a game and four assists. Against Penn, she knocked down 31 points on 12-for-22 shooting to match her career best — plus 10 rebounds and a half-dozen assists. For Krupa, a sophomore forward, it was a breakout performance: 25 points on 8-for-12 shooting, including 3-for-7 on threes.
Not to say that this was a two-woman show, but players not named Turner or Krupa shot 6-for-28 from the floor, 1-for-8 on threes and zip-for-2 on free throws, with five assists among the bunch of them.
The Crimson led almost wire to wire, but not by enough to feel comfortable till the closing minutes. For one thing, after three seasons of trying to cope with high-scoring Quakers guard Kayla Padilla (now a graduate student playing for Southern California), the Crimson got their introduction to Mataya Gayle, the high-scoring guard who promises to bedevil them through March 2027. Gayle bounced back from a six-point performance against Cornell to sink her first four shots (Penn’s first four baskets) on her way to 19 points on 8-for-16 shooting for 19 points along with seven rebounds.
A more familiar opponent, senior forward Jordan Obi, was also effective against Harvard, with 15 points (5-for-13 shooting) and 10 rebounds. But Penn’s leading scorer this year, junior Stina Almqvist, couldn’t get her shots to fall, ending up with just seven points after pummeling Cornell for 26. Junior forward Ayana Rogers made the most of her five minutes off the bench, going 2-for-2.
Thanks to Gayle’s hot hand early, Penn played Harvard even through the first quarter. But Harvard went into halftime four points ahead on a nifty Turner step-back jumper at the buzzer. In the third quarter, the Turner and Krupa show went into high gear. Except for an Abigail Wright three-pointer (with a Turner assist), they supplied all of Harvard’s 22 points. Penn shot a hot 7-for-13 (54%) in the quarter and still lost ground, with Harvard going 8-for-14 (57%).
Harvard stayed hot in the fourth quarter (53%) while Penn came back to earth (31%). Harvard built an 11-point lead during a three-minute Penn drought early in the fourth, and Penn never got closer than nine points back after that. Penn’s inability to hit the threes — just 3-for-16 for the afternoon — doomed its chances for a comeback.
Speaking to ESPN+ after the game, Harvard coach Carrie Moore said she was disappointed with her team’s play in the first half — and said so in the locker room.
“I think that they responded really well — to start the third, to start the fourth — a little more connected, sharing the ball, high assists, low turnovers,” Moore said.
Penn (10-7, 2-2 Ivy) returns home to start a four-game stand Saturday at the Palestra against Columbia (12-5, 3-1). Harvard (10-7, 3-1) takes its show on the road for the next four games, beginning Saturday at Yale (4-13, 1-3).