PROVIDENCE, R.I. – It was Turner Time at the Pizz.
With an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament likely on the line, Ivy League Player of the Year Harmoni Turner erupted for 44-points and led No. 3-seeded Harvard to a 70-67 win over No. 2 Princeton in the semifinals of the Ivy League Tournament. The win advances Harvard to Saturday’s championship game against No. 1 Columbia, which defeated No. 4 Penn in Friday’s first semifinal matchup, 60-54.
Turner’s 44 points broke her own record for most points in a game by a Harvard player, set earlier in the season against Boston College, and shattered the record for an individual performance by a player, men’s or women’s, at the Ivy League Tournament.
Ironically, the Ivy Madness scoring record was previously held by Princeton’s Kaitlyn Chen, who tallied 30 against Columbia in the 2022 Ivy League Tournament championship game. Chen was in the audience on Friday night cheering on her Tigers.
In two previous matchups against the Tigers this season, Turner struggled to get on track, suppressed by the outstanding defense of Princeton sophomore Olivia Hutcherson. But on Friday night, Turner turned the tables. The senior guard hit five three-pointers in the first half, pacing Harvard with 21 points in the first 20 minutes of action. Hutcherson shook her head when Turner’s fifth trey swished through the net.
Despite Turner’s indomitable performance, Princeton led at half, 36-31, behind a balanced attack led by super sophomores Ashley Chea and Skye Belker, who tallied 10 and nine, respectively.
In the third quarter, Princeton expanded its lead to 48-35, on a strong move to the basket by sophomore guard/forward Fadima Tall that resulted in an and-one foul on Lydia Chatira. Tall missed the bonus free throw but still finished in double figures with 11 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
With the game at an inflection point, Turner took control.
After a series of dazzling crossover dribbles, the 5-foot-10 senior drove the lane, lofted a shot that rolled in, and drew the and-1 foul on Hutcherson.
After a missed three pointer by Chea, Turner missed a jumper, but Elena Rodriguez grabbed an easy rebound and laid the ball in off the glass for her first points of the game. Although Rodriguez struggled to score against Tall’s stalwart defense, she made up for it on the glass, hauling down a game high 11 rebounds. The second chance points by Rodriquez were emblematic of Princeton’s struggles all night on the glass, especially on the defensive end. The Tigers gave up 17 offensive rebounds, resulting in 17 second chance points for Harvard.
After the game, Princeton coach Carla Berube pointed to the Tigers’ difficulties on the defensive boards as a key cause of their demise. “I thought in the second half, the amount of second chance opportunities that we gave them, I think that really, really hurt us.”
After an impressive drive to the hoop and finish by Tabitha Amanze, Turner missed a layup. But Abigail Wright was there for the rebound and drew a foul. After making two throws, Wright brought the Crimson to within eight, 52-44, at the 3:22 mark of the third quarter. Wright came up big for coach Carrie Moore’s club with tough interior defense against Princeton’s triple towers of Parker Hill, Amanze and Katie Thiers.
“You know,” said Moore, “we talk a lot about the plus-minus being the most important stat on a on a box score at the end of the game, and this kid right here [Wright] finishes plus-20. The next best on our team is plus-five. OK, so just huge, huge minutes by Abigail in the fourth, especially in the last minute of the game, just flying around, deflection, jump ball, big rebound.”
With time running down in the third frame, Turner again displayed her ankle-breaking crossover magic, juking Hutcherson and hitting a jumper in the paint to make it 52-46. Moments later, Turner drove the baseline and scored over 6-foot-4. Another three-point bomb by Turner closed out the scoring in the third as Princeton’s lead was shaved to one, 54-33, entering the final stanza.
In the fourth quarter, the game see-sawed. After getting a defensive stop, the Crimson had a chance to take a lead, but Tall stripped Turner and euro-stepped her way to a layup to put the Tigers up three, 61-58. But the Tigers couldn’t protect the defensive glass, yielding three straight offensive rebounds after three Harvard misses. The Crimson’s fourth try resulted in a layup by Saniyah Glenn-Bello and Harvard was back within a point, 61-50, with under six minutes to play.
A miss by Skye Belker allowed Harvard to get out in transition, leading to an attempted layup by Turner, who was fouled. Turner made two frees to put the Crimson on top for first time since the 4:20 mark of the first quarter. Of Turner’s 44 points, nine came from the charity stripe on 9-for-10 shooting.
The Tigers weren’t done. A layup by Belker on a pretty bounce pass from Hill put the Tigers back on top, 66-62, with 4:43 to play. Belker came up huge for Princeton, leading the team with 20 points on 6-for-11 shooting, including three threes.
But Turner would not be denied. Two more jump shots by the senior vaulted Harvard back into the lead, and there was no looking back. A Belker three brought the Tigers to within one, but a drive and dish by Turner to Wright resulted in a layup to give Harvard a 70-67 lead with 38 ticks left on the clock. With a final possession, Princeton couldn’t find a good look as a desperation three by Belker missed its mark and Harvard’s bench mobbed Turner at center court in celebration of the biggest win in the Carrie Moore coaching era.
At the postgame press conference, Turner let out an “oh-yeah” as she took to the dais.
“This is what March is about, about making upsets,” Turner said with a beaming smile on her face. “And I feel like we did that. I think we were well-prepared. I’m incredibly proud of Abigail. She stepped up tremendously today. I’m incredibly proud of my teammates as well, and super grateful for my coaches. Like the preparation was A-one, and I think we followed it to a T. And we came out with the dub. I feel like the proof is in the pudding.”
Moore gushed about her team’s response to adversity.
“I just felt like our girls just never let up. And we’ve been in this position before, right, where it’s [a] back-and-forth game. We’ve been down more than we were tonight, and we’ve we fought, we fought and come together and made huge plays down the stretch and come out on top.”
For Princeton coach Carla Berube and her Tigers, the early elimination from Ivy Madness is unfamiliar territory.
“It’s such a weird position to be in,” Berube said. “We’re gonna take tomorrow and Sunday off and get together on Sunday and see what happens. It’s out of our control. We can only say or show what we’ve accomplished. Several of our losses are early in the season, when we are trying to figure out how to play without Madison St. Rose and we had a great Ivy League season and had some really great wins on our resume. So we’re just going to leave it to the experts, leave it to the committee and and, but I will say this again, that Ivy League basketball is really phenomenal basketball. And hopefully, the national committee and those that are making these decisions see that, and I think they do. I mean, I think these are all basketball people and minds and understand just how exceptional Ivy League basketball is. So fingers crossed, and the chips will fall where they fall.”
