With two minutes left in last week’s loss to Princeton women’s basketball, Harvard junior Karlee White took a huge hit to her right knee, the same one that was injured against Boston College in November, and the remainder of her season was in serious doubt.
For the second time this season, the MRI of White’s knee came back clear, and she returned to practice in time to prepare for the season finale against archrival Columbia.
“She’s (White) tolerated pain her entire career … Last year (in the Ivy League Tournament), she was literally playing on one leg and making huge plays against these two teams (Columbia and Princeton),” Harvard coach Carrie Moore optimistically said during her weekly press conference. “She’s in much better shape than she was last year … She’s putting weight on both legs (this week). We’re in great shape.”
Pushing the risk of a third injury to her leg in the rearview mirror, the Burbank, Calif. native put the Crimson on her back and helped her team overcome a 16-point second half deficit to upset the Lions in front of a sellout crowd in Levien Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
On the strength of White’s 24-point, nine-rebound, four-steal and three-assist performance, Harvard came away with a 68-64 win to set up a rematch between the two teams next Friday in the semifinal round of the Ivy League Tournament at Cornell.
The Crimson, which entered the contest essentially locked into the No. 3 seed for Ivy Madness, finished the regular season at 17-10 overall and 10-4 in the Ancient Eight.
The Lions, meanwhile, needed to match or better Princeton’s result against Yale to claim the program’s fourth straight regular season title and claim the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament.
Columbia’s defeat, coupled with the Tigers 78-55 win over the Bulldogs, left the Light Blue and White at 20-7 for the year, 11-3 in league play and second place in the Ivy standings.
“It’s really hard to sit with this right now, I’m not going to lie,” voach Megan Griffith said to the media in the postgame press conference.
The opening started out great for the Lions, scoring the first eight points of the afternoon and taking a 10-2 lead after the first four minutes.
After Harvard regrouped with a 6-0 run to make it a two-point game, junior guard Marija Avlijas connected on a triple from the right elbow and added a free throw to help Columbia finish the first quarter up 14-8.
Crimson rookie guard Olivia Jones started the second quarter with a three-ball from the left side, but the Lions scored nine of the next 11 points, including a 3-for-3 free-throw effort from junior guard Riley Weiss after getting fouled beyond the arc, to give the hosts a 23-12 lead.
Two Harvard buckets made it a seven-point deficit midway through the frame, then Weiss was fouled after connecting on a three from the right elbow and completed the four-point play. On the next possession, senior guard/forward Perri Page stole the ball and took it all the way for a layup that extended the Columbia advantage to 29-16.
The teams matched points over the last four minutes of the quarter, and the Lions went into the locker room up 35-22.
With the Lions extending their lead to a game-high 16 points four minutes into the third quarter, Harvard was on the ropes and quickly needed to find a new gear.
Junior forward Abigail Wright’s two free throws and an old-fashioned three from Jones sparked a 12-2 run, including eight straight points over a 90 second span, to make it 45-39 in favor of Columbia.
Following two Weiss free throws, White hit a bank-shot triple from the left side, a driving layup straight down the lane, a contested spinning layup around Weiss and a pair of buckets from the charity stripe. After her personal 9-2 run, the Crimson were only down one, 49-48, with a minute left in the quarter.
The Lions’ lead was back to three with 11 seconds on the clock, when Jones took an inbounds pass coast-to-coast to end the frame with the score knotted at 51.
Buckets were hard to come by early in the fourth quarter, but senior forward Katie Krupa’s made it to the line in the third minute, and her two free throws gave Harvard their first lead of the day.
Columbia went back on top by two, after Weiss hit a contested mid-range jumper in the lane and junior forward Hilke Feldrappe, substituting for senior forward Susie Rafiu who fouled out earlier in the quarter, hit a put-back layup.
After several missed opportunities on the next possession, Krupa had the ball with the shot clock moving to zero when she found daylight and raced past multiple defenders for a layup that tied the score at 55.
From there, White added three heavily contested layups to put Harvard ahead 61-57 with less than two minutes remaining in regulation.
Saniyah Glenn-Bello, from nearby Staten Island, missed a three from the right baseline, but Krupa grabbed the offensive board and dished it to the cutting senior guard, who hit the layup to make it a six-point game.
Following a coast-to-coast layup from junior guard Fliss Henderson, Avlijas poked the ball away from White into the hands of Page. After the Pittsburgh native was fouled and sank both her free throws, it was a 63-61 game at the 53-second mark.
Henderson intercepted Glenn-Bello’s pass on the next possession, giving the Lions a chance to tie or take the lead.
Sophomore guard Mia Broom attempted to get the rock inside, but junior guard Mary Hollensteiner deflected it into Page, and the senior couldn’t keep the loose ball from going out of bounds.
White took the inbounds with 16 seconds remaining and alluded defenders until she was sent to the line eight seconds later.
With White making both free throws, the Crimson were up 65-61, and Columbia needed two scores to tie or go ahead.
A right side three was launched by Weiss, but White was there to block the shot into the hands of Hollensteiner, who added a free throw to make it 66-61.
Weiss was able to make a triple from the top of the key, but it was too late to make a difference.
In addition to White’s offensive prowess, which included 20 second-half points, Glenn-Bello and Jones helped out by adding 12 and 11 points, respectively.
While the outcome wasn’t what Page wanted, the senior left everything on the floor with 25 points on 83.3% (10-for-12) shooting, eight rebounds and three steals. Weiss was the only other Columbia player scoring in double figures, but her 14 points came on 21.4% (3-for-14) shooting from the field.
Saturday’s contest was an evenly matched, fast-paced and physical affair, typical of the contests between these two teams. With so many similar box score metrics, the difference may have simply come down to which team was a little bit tougher … or luckier.
On this day, the arrow pointed to Harvard. The next time, it might stay angled towards the Crimson, or it could just as easily shift over to the Lions.
Fortunately, these two programs and fans of Ivy League hoops don’t have to wait long to find out.
When our editor gave me the day off I was free to watch any game I chose. This contest was clearly the most interesting of the day with so much at stake for both teams. While seeding was not an issue for the Crimson. (Locked in at #3) momentum for the tournament clearly was. For Columbia an Ivy title was theirs for the taking AT HOME!! Leaving that on the table was particularly galling to Griffith and her team. Next week the revenge factor is off the charts. I can’t wait….
Nice recap , Rob.