Harvard women’s basketball took care of business on Thursday night, soundly defeating Boston College, 81-51, at Lavietes Pavilion.
The victory was the first of the year for the Crimson (1-1) and their fifth straight win over the Eagles (0-2).
After a competitive opening quarter and Boston College holding a 16-15 lead just over a minute into the second stanza, Harvard took control of the contest. Using runs of 8-0 and 9-0 while limiting their Chestnut Hill neighbors to one field goal over the next eight-plus minutes, the Crimson were able to take a 35-20 advantage into the locker room.
There was no letup entering the third quarter, as Harvard connected on four of five field goals and five of six free throws in the first three minutes to make it a 49-24 contest.
The Crimson stretched their lead to 31, 64-32, at the 8:17 mark of the final quarter, giving several starters a chance to rest ahead of a packed pre-Thanksgiving schedule that includes Michigan State and Syracuse.
Some thoughts on the victorious home opener for Carrie Moore’s squad.
Defense csrried the day
As usual Harvard was led by their defensive effort.
The Eagles were held to only 31% (18-for-59) shooting from the field for the game, including a paltry 6% (1-for-17) from three. When looking at the last three quarters, the Crimson’s overall field goal defense was even more impressive, limiting their Big East foes to 25% (12-for-48).
Harvard also amped up its press effectively, forcing Boston College into 19 turnovers and converting those miscues into 22 points.
An ensemble shooting effort
The Crimson took control of the offensive side through their work at the three-point line and the charity stripe.
For the evening, Harvard took 30 attempts from outside the arc, which was one more than they attempted from two, and managed to connect on 12 of those. Seven different players were successful from downtown with four coming from senior guard Karlee White and two each from junior guard Lydia Chatira and sophomore guard Aubrey Shaw.
After managing only seven attempts from the free throw line during their 82-62 loss at No. 17 Minnesota, the Crimson earned 24 trips to the line on Thursday and made 19. Senior forward Abigail Wright led the team with seven attempts, while White had five.
White topped all scorers with 25 points on 64% (7-for-11) shooting from the field, which was a solid bounce-back game after her 11-point, 25% shooting performance on Monday.
“Obviously, (Karlee) didn’t shoot it well at Minnesota the other night, so I just felt like some were going to fall for her today, especially being at home,” Coach Moore said to the ESPN+ team. “I think every shot she takes is a great shot. I’m just really excited about her and her senior season.”
With the Eagles limited to only four minutes from Grace Oliver, their star junior forward, Wright took advantage of the mismatches inside for 17 points on 70% (7-for-10) shooting and four assists.
While there weren’t any other double-digit scorers for the home team, Chatira added nine points and four assists on the night. After injuries limited her court time and production in 2025-2026, having the team’s premier point guard on the floor for 34 minutes a night has been a definite plus for the Crimson.
Bench bested BC
Six different Harvard reserves combined for 20 points, outscoring Boston College’s bench by a 2-to-1 margin, and Shaw led the second team with eight points.
Over the first two games of the season, the Harvard bench has come up big with an average of 22 points.
At her homecoming game in Minneapolis, one in which the Crimson led the Golden Gophers 52-51 with 18 seconds left in the third quarter, sophomore guard Sam Wills had a breakout performance putting up 20 points on 8-for-8 shooting. She hit her first triple on Thursday but went 0-for-4 the rest of the way.
With consistency being one of Harvard’s two main mantras heading into this season (finishing strong is the other), it will be helpful for the coach and the team if one or two of the reserves can be counted on to provide solid offensive numbers on a regular basis.
Up next
Harvard heads to Worcester on Sunday for a 6:00 p.m. intra-state matchup with Holy Cross (2-0), the 2026 Patriot League Tournament champions. After defeating the Eagles by ten points on opening night, the Crusaders overcame a seven-point fourth quarter deficit to beat Dartmouth and head coach Linda Cimino, who received a contract extension on Wednesday, by three on Thursday.