At her weekly press conferences, Harvard women’s basketball coach Carrie Moore often discusses her Detroit roots, the grittiness that comes with being a part of the Motor City and her desire for her players to play with that level of toughness.
On Sunday afternoon, her Crimson didn’t always have their best stuff, but they pushed back against a physical Illinois State (2-2) team to come away with a hard-fought 72-62 victory.
The win gave Harvard (7-1) a sweep of its first of two consecutive back-to-back games and a five-game winning streak.
The Crimson came out of the gate quickly, hitting its first three three-pointers to take an 11-2 lead and extending it to 24-9 by the end of the opening quarter.
In the first 10 minutes, Harvard shot well, making 56% (5-for-9) from two and 50% (4-for-8) from three, while they grabbed seven more rebounds and had a 12-0 advantage in second-chance points. Defensively, the Crimson held Illinois State (2-2) to 25% shooting from the field, including a 0-for-4 effort from beyond the arc.
The second quarter was a more physical affair, which started to take its toll on a Crimson team that played at Northwestern a day earlier.
The Redbirds opened up the frame on a 9-0 run, but sophomore guard Karlee White came off the bench to spur Harvard’s own 9-0 run with a second chance layup and a triple from the right side of the arc.
By time the halftime buzzer sounded, the Crimson were up 12, 37-25.
Harvard only connected on 26% of their shots in that quarter, including a 9% (1-for-11) success rate from deep, while Illinois State shot 70% from the field. What kept the Crimson in front was their 8-0 and 12-0 advantages in offensive rebounds and second chance points, respectively.
The offensive struggles continued for Harvard in the third quarter, as the Redbirds used a 12-4 run over a five-minute stretch, punctuated by a three from the top of the key by graduate guard Elyce Knudsen, to make it a 43-39 ballgame.
A driving baseline layup from junior guard Saniyah Glenn-Bello and a left-baseline three-pointer by first-year guard Alayna Rocco got the Crimson’s lead up to nine, but a buzzer-beating three from the right baseline by sophomore forward Nevaeh Thomas capped a 6-0 run over the last 90 seconds of the quarter to make it 48-45.
While Illinois State held Harvard to 31% shooting from the field and 14% (1-for-7) from downtown, they had another strong shooting quarter with 54% from the floor and 50% (3-for-6) from beyond the arc.
The difference for the Redbirds in this frame was that they managed to win the battle on the glass for the first time all day, outrebounding Harvard 13-3 and keeping the visitors from netting any second chance points.
Senior guard Harmoni Turner, who was held scoreless in the previous quarter, nailed a three from the left baseline in the opening minute to stretch the lead to six, but a put-back layup by Thomas and another triple from Knudsen made it a 51-50 contest.
Once again, Turner, the first team All-Ivy guard from Mansfield, Texas responded with an old-fashioned three pointer off a driving layup.
With Harvard still up four, 56-52, Thomas bowled Turner over on her way to a layup and a pair of made free throws by sophomore guard Shannon Dowell made it a tie game.
After senior forward Elena Rodriguez hit a driving layup from the left side to reclaim the lead for Harvard, first year guard Lydia Chatira scooped up a loose ball and fed Turner for a fastbreak layup to make it 60-56 with five minutes left in regulation.
Seconds after Redbirds inbounded the ball, Chatira leaned in for a steal and caught an inadvertent elbow from graduate guard Maya Wong to the left side of the face and immediately hit the ground.
After Turner walked over to Wong and two other Illinois State players, Dowell and Turner got into a short pushing match before the referees got involved.
Chatria was ultimately charged with the foul on her reach-in, while Turner and Wong were both assessed technicals.
Wong hit both free throws to cut the Redbirds’ deficit to two, then junior forward Katie Krupa got a layup on the next possession after Harvard grabbed three offensive rebounds.
After the Crimson forced a turnover off the Illinois State inbounds, White hit a layup to make it 64-58.
Following a Redbirds miss, Turner hit a mid-range floater off of one leg to increase the Harvard lead to eight with 3:15 on the clock.
Up five, 66-61, with less than a minute to go, Turner hit a step-back jumper dagger from top of the key, just inside the arc.
Turner had a chance to ice the game away, when she was sent to the line with a 68-62 advantage, but the 85% free throw shooter missed both. Fortunately, Rodriguez was there to grab the rebound and made both free throws after being fouled.
The Crimson’s leader was able to redeem herself at the line, making both shots to make it 72-62.
In the final frame, both teams had difficulty with the long ball, making one each, but Harvard ultimately won the battle, and ultimately the game, on the inside. The Crimson outshot the Redbirds 73% (8-for-11) to 36% (4-for-11) and outrebounded their hosts 12-7.
Turner, the Ivy League’s leading scorer, finished the afternoon with a game-high 25 points on 53% (10-for-19) shooting. She also had a game-high five assists and five rebounds.
Rodriguez had 10 points, while Glenn-Bello had nine points and six rebounds.
Chatira did return to the bench before the end of the contest, but there were no other updates during the broadcast. Harvard Athletics did not respond to a request for comment on Chatira’s status.
Ivy Hoops Online reached out to Harvard and is waiting for a response.
The Crimson don’t have much time to recover, with back-to-back road games Wednesday afternoon at Stony Brook and Thursday afternoon at St. John’s.