HANOVER, N.H. – The Harvard women’s basketball team knew its Ivy League Tournament place was secure heading into Saturday’s regular season finale Saturday afternoon against Dartmouth.
But as much as they probably didn’t want to look too closely at it, the Crimson also knew their hopes of an NCAA Tournament at-large berth was in a very precarious spot, listed as one of the Last Four In or dreaded Last Four Out on most bracketologies in the last two weeks.
So, even though Dartmouth was banged up and coming in on an 11-game losing streak, Harvard left nothing to chance on Dartmouth’s Senior Day, using their pressure to dominate from the opening tip, eventually posting a 74-40 victory at Leede Arena.
“We just really wanted to finish the regular season on a high note,” Harvard coach Carrie Moore said. “We didn’t feel great about how we played last weekend, so we wanted to get back to how we know we can play, and I felt we did that, especially the upperclassmen who set the tone early.”
The Crimson (22-4, 11-3 Ivy) can now turn their attention to Friday’s Ivy Madness semifinal against Princeton, a fascinating matchup because the Tigers also find themselves on the NCAA Tournament bubble (Princeton swept the regular season matchups). Columbia, the top seed, may also find itself on the bubble if it loses. The Crimson entered Saturday with the best NET rating of the three (38th), which won’t be hurt by the lopsided win, but a third loss to Princeton would put them at the mercy of the Selection Committee.
“I honestly try not to look (at NCAA bracket projections) right now,” Moore said. “I don’t need any more stress than I already have. I see it, of course, but I’m really just trying to control what we can control, live in the present, and hopefully we’ll be at our best on Friday.”
As she has for much of her career at Harvard, senior Harmoni Turner led the way with 33 points and six assists, slicing the Big Green open at will as the Crimson scored 20 of the game’s first 22 points, led 23-7 after one quarter, and 39-18 at the half.
“Generally, we take it one game at a time, but sometimes you go on social media and you see there’s some people still doubting us, so that’s more fuel to the fire, more motivation and more will to help us work even harder,” Turner said.
Harvard forced 14 first-half turnovers with its now trademark pressure and the game marked the seventh time it held an opponent to 44 points or less in conference play. None of those were against Columbia or Princeton, although the Crimson did hold the Tigers to 52 (in a 52-50 loss) and the Lions to 54 (in a 60-54 road win).
“Putting pressure on people is what we do. That’s our deal, that’s who we are. We’re not going to play any different, and obviously it helped us get off to a big lead here,” Moore said. “We don’t feel like we executed well really on both ends last time against Princeton. We just want a smarter effort for 40 minutes.
Fellow senior Elena Rodriguez added 15 points and seven rebounds for Harvard, a veteran team that is looking to break an 18-year NCAA Tournament drought.
“I think this was a really great tune up for what’s to come for us. We know that we have two tough opponents coming up in the Ivy Tournament,” Turner said. “We wanted to be really resilient in this game and not take it lightly.”
There was one bright spot for Dartmouth (8-19, 2-12), as senior Victoria Page had 23 of Dartmouth’s 40, and her last basket in the final minute got her to exactly 1,000 for her career.
Juniors Katie Krupa and Saniyah Glenn-Bello will also play a big part if the Crimson are successful next weekend, but the focal point will be Turner, who now has 1,940 career points, third all-time in program history, and also ranks second in steals and seventh in assists.
Turner is projected to be a second round pick in the WNBA Draft next month, but she wants her Harvard legacy to include some NCAA Tournament success at the end.
“Our ride has just started,” Turner said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity and proud of my teammates, but we’re far from done. The job’s not finished.”