After a frustrating loss to Maine eight days earlier, Harvard lost a 10-point second-half lead and found itself facing a second straight home upset when Delaware went up 57-54 with 5:40 left in regulation Monday.
Coach Carrie Moore quickly refocused her team during the mid-quarter break.
“We’ve been here before. It’s a five-minute game,” the coach told ESPN+ right after the final buzzer. “It’s not about what just happened, it’s about what we are about to do.”
What the Crimson actually did was score 11 of the next 13 points, including a 7-0 run, en route to a 70-63 win.
Harvard’s run gave it a 65-59 lead heading into the final minute. After junior center Ande’a Cherisier hit a spinning layup, notching her team-high 17th and 18th points of the day, to cut the deficit to four, three different Harvard athletes went a combined 5-for-6 from the free throw line to ice the win.
The victory allowed the Crimson to finish the grueling nonconference schedule in the plus column with a 7-6 record, while the Blue Hens head off to Conference USA play at 6-6 on the year.
Some thoughts from Monday’s matinee:
Senior leadership led the way
Following the Maine defeat, Moore told the media that her program’s two better years were due to the then-seniors taking ownership of what was being taught by the staff and bringing that leadership onto the court, as well as in the locker room.
“I don’t know if that’s necessarily happening to the degree at which it needs to right now,” Moore told the assembled reporters during her weekly availability. “I know we’ve been urging them to step up in that way. Right now, I’m needing more from our seniors on the floor, but most importantly, off the floor.”
The on-court message was clearly heard, as the Crimson’s two remaining seniors, forward Katie Krupa and guard Saniyah Glenn-Bello (guard Gabby Anderson is out for the season with a knee injury), led the way to victory.
Glenn-Bello got off to a hot start, scoring nine points in the opening quarter and finishing the half with 13 points. By game’s end, the Staten Island native had a career-high 20 points with a 7-for-7 effort from the charity stripe, along with six boards, four steals, an assist and a block.
Meanwhile, Krupa’s fingerprints were all over the crucial five-plus minutes of the game, where she went a perfect 2-for-2 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line, while adding an assist on a clutch three-pointer from sophomore guard Nina Emnace.
Just as important were the two consecutive offensive charges she drew to thwart the Blue Hens’ comeback.
For the afternoon, the 2024 Honorable Mention All-Ivy registered 16 points, her highest production since a January 2025 win at Yale, as well as a season-high five rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal.
“I thought out seniors, especially KK (Katie Krupa), really stepped up to finish the game,” the smiling coach told ESPN+.
Picking up the pace
Moore has discussed the need for the team to get faster on both ends of the court for the last few weeks, and it clicked on Monday.
From the opening tip-off, the Crimson looked like their old selves, flying around with a three-quarter press that frustrated Delaware for the entire 40 minutes and contributed to a 76-possession game, which was a significantly higher number than its 68.9 average (No. 302 nationally).
For the first time since Nov. 30, Harvard forced more than 20 turnovers and ended the game with a season-best 28 takeaways, which the team converted into 27 points.
Six different players forced at least two turnovers with junior forward Abigail Wright and junior guard Karlee White each totaling five.
White is truly back from injury
In the game against Maine, after missing a month of action due to a knee injury, the Burbank, Calif. native was limited to 19 minutes. It was hard to tell if the lower amount of court time was related to missing a month of action, picking up quick fouls in each half or both.
Things seemed back to normal for White as the 2025 calendar comes to a close and the 2026 Ivy season quickly approaches.
White looked her usual self, constantly putting herself in the mix on both sides of the ball, while taking the offensive pressure off of her teammates.
For the day, the team’s second leading scorer and rebounder added 13 points, a team-high seven rebounds and three steals in 34 minutes of action.
A mixed offensive bag
Let’s start with the unquestionable strength of the offense, which was the free throw shooting. The Crimson went 19-for-21 (90.5%) for the game, including a 9-for-10 effort during the fourth quarter.
On the year, Harvard has connected on 78.6% of its attempts from the charity stripe, which is No. 17 in the land and second in the Ancient Eight. (Penn is at 81.2%). That will certainly be a big plus in close league contests over the next two-plus months.
From two-point range, the Crimson were successful on 44.7% (21-for-47) of their attempts with down-and-up individual quarter results of 42.1%, 62.5%, 30.7% and 57.1%. Delaware connected on 50% (17-for-34) of its inside shots, but Harvard’s strength on the offensive glass (19-7) gave the hosts 16 more attempts from the field than the visitors.
It may not have been the most consistent or dominant performance from inside the arc, but the overall result was the third-best on the year for the Crimson.
While it wasn’t surprising that Harvard had difficulties against a Blue Hens defense that held opponents to a 27.9% three-point field goal rate (No. 90 nationally), it was disappointing that the team could only manage a 15% clip (3-for-20) from beyond the arc.
For the year, the Crimson have a 29.4% success rate from three, which is No. 217 in the country and fourth in the Ivy League.
Next up
The Ancient Eight schedule is, finally, only days away.
Harvard will start its quest for its first Ivy League regular season title since 2008 by traveling to Hanover for a 2 p.m. game on Sat., Jan. 3 against Dartmouth (8-4).
The Big Green started the year at 8-2 before losing their last two road games, including a heartbreaking 61-59 defeat at Vermont on Sunday. Dartmouth will look to get back into the win column before the end of the year when it faces St. Joseph’s Brooklyn on Tuesday.