Harvard women’s basketball coasts to win over Stony Brook

With a Harvard women’s basketball victory never in doubt for the better part of 35 minutes, there was still last-minute drama amongst the 1,147 tween-heavy Education Day fans at Lavietes Pavilion to see if the Crimson would hit the magic number of 67.

As the seconds ticked down, senior guard Saniyah Glenn-Bello cut across the lane, hit a contested underhand layup and sent the crowd, as well as the Harvard bench, into a frenzy to seal a dominant 67-33 victory over Stony Brook on Friday afternoon.

With her late bucket, the senior guard from Staten Island capped a stat-stuffing afternoon of 14 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and five blocks.

The Crimson (6-5) claimed their first three-game winning streak of the season and entered into the two-week Final Exam break over .500 for the first time in the season. The rebuilding Seawolves (3-7), meanwhile, lost their third straight contest against Harvard and sixth straight against Division I competition.

Harvard jumped out of the gate quickly, using deft passing to hit four lightly contested layups to go up 8-0 and force Stony Brook into a timeout at the three-minute mark. The Crimson then found their outside touch, connecting on three deep shots, to start the contest on a 19-0 run.

While the hosts couldn’t hold the Seawolves to a scoreless 10 minutes, like in their third quarter against Holy Cross on Wednesday night, they did finish the frame up 25-6.

Both teams struggled for points in the second quarter and Harvard ultimately finished the half ahead 32-11.

The offenses remained sluggish through most of the third quarter before Mary Hollensteiner sparked the offense over the last 2:29. The junior guard started things off with a deep triple from the left elbow, then got an old-fashioned three after grabbing a pass at the free throw line and spinning around her defender for a layup.

By the end of the quarter, which was capped by an Olivia Jones mini-oop jumper off an off-balanced pass from Glenn-Bello, the Crimson had extended its advantage to 49-25 and the only question left was whether the team could get to the meme-tastic total.

Some thoughts on a matinee game where my inner dentist worked hard to ignore the Harvard staffer who brought out a case of free candy that caused a mini-melee of middle schoolers, and a Stony Brook trainer who covered an open wound on the thumb of a Seawolves player with a bandage she cut with her teeth.

Defense hot

The defensive side for Harvard was strong all game long, limiting its opponents to 18% (2-for-11) from three, 34% (11-for-34) from two and only seven attempts from the free throw line.

Rebounding was also an enormous plus for the Crimson, who finished with a 75% rate on the defensive end and using 17 offensive boards for a 45% success rate. Jones, a rookie guard from Harrisburg, Pa., topped the list for the victors with 11 rebounds (five offensive), while junior forward Abigail Wright added eight (four offensive).

The offensive rate has been strong all season long, with Harvard entering the break at No. 45 in the nation (39%), the defensive rebounding has been improving and moved up to No. 193 (68%).

Turnovers continue to be a big plus, with the Crimson getting 25 on the day and taking the ball away on 34% of all Stony Brook possessions. With both numbers exceeding the yearly results, the squad now sits at No. 54 for turnover rate (24%) and No. 100 for average (20).    

Offense hot and not

After two games in which foul trouble limited her court time, Wright was more controlled on Friday, picking up only two fouls and finishing with a game-high 22 points on 50% (10-for-20) shooting. 

While 35 minutes of playing time is more than what Moore would like for the team’s primary frontcourt player, in order to preserve her for the Ivy League schedule, it is certainly preferable to the 22 and 20 minutes Wright saw over the last two contests.

Glenn-Bello is continuing her aggressive offensive effort, with Friday’s numbers giving her a 13.1-point average over her last seven games.  Returning from the break, it will be key for the starting wing to improve upon the 39% field goal shooting from that same stretch of games.

As a team, the opening 10 minutes saw Harvard score 25 points on 60% (3-for-5) shooting from beyond the arc and 57% (8-for-14) from close range. But the remaining 30 minutes resulted in 42 points on 31% (4-for-13) from three and 35% (12-for-34) from two.

While the 39% three-point effort on the day increased the team’s national position to a solid No. 149 (32%), the 42% total two-point result matched the yearly rate, was the ninth time the team has been under 45% for the season and has the program at No. 292 of 363 teams. 

MVP – Mary Hollensteiner

With injuries to starting guards Karlee White and Gabby Anderson, Moore has needed to look deeper into the roster to find production, and the Bethesda, Md. native has found her time increasing since Anderson went down last Sunday.

On Friday, Hollensteiner, who averaged 6.8 minutes over her first eight contests and 18 minutes in the last two games, responded with a career-best 17 points on 63% shooting, including a 4-for-6 effort from three and 3-for-3 result from the charity stripe. 

“Being ready when my name’s called off of the bench. Gabby (Anderson) is out now, so we’ve got some big shoes to fill,” Hollensteiner told ESPN+ after the game. “Playing for her, playing for the kids, today.”

Ivy Hoops Online reached out to Harvard Athletics to find out the status of Anderson’s MRI result from Wednesday, but there has been no response.

With Anderson’s status uncertain, the Crimson are going to need additional help from the bench. More consistent development in playing time and production for the junior guard, who won the three-point shooting contest in Crimson Madness and connected on three triples in an early game at UMass, could be a big help for the Ivy League campaign.

Next up

Harvard has two more home games, the first on Dec. 21 against Maine and the next on Dec. 29 versus Delaware, before the Ancient Eight season opener at Dartmouth on Jan. 3.