Alayna Rocco

Dominant third quarter propels Harvard women’s basketball past Holy Cross

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Down two at the half, the Harvard women used a 17-0 third quarter to put away Holy Cross 61-46 on Wednesday evening at Lavietes Pavilion.

The Crimson’s victory was even more impressive given the fact that the team was missing two starters and three of its top six rotation players due to injuries, as well as having its travel scheduled delayed by 10 to 12 hours due to connecting flight problems after the win at Arkansas on Sunday.

The win brought Carrie Moore’s squad back to the .500 level at 5-5 on the year, while the Crusaders fell to 3-5.

A few thoughts as Harvard starts December with its first two-game winning streak of the season:

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Harvard women’s basketball wins at Arkansas for first-ever SEC victory

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Harvard women’s basketball, continuing to use a depleted roster, bounced back from two defeats at the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship before Thanksgiving to take down Arkansas 69-51 on Nolan Richardson Court in Fayetteville Sunday.

With the victory, the Crimson improved to 4-5 on the season, while the Razorbacks dropped its first home game in six attempts and dropped to 7-2. 

Sunday afternoon’s contest was put on the schedule as a homecoming for Gabby Anderson, who was born in the Natural State and whose mother played for Arkansas in the late 1990s. But the celebration of the program’s first-ever win over an SEC opponent was tempered by the loss of the senior guard due to a left knee injury early in the second quarter. 

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Career night from Abigail Wright leads Harvard women’s basketball at Boston College in overtime

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Harvard women’s basketball rode the hot hands of junior forward Abigail Wright, who notched a career-best 23 points and 13 rebounds in her first-ever double-double, to a 72-65 overtime victory over Boston College at the Conte Center on Wednesday night.

While the Crimson got back into the win column and evened its record at 3-3 on the season, the triumph was tempered by the loss of Karlee White, who had been the team’s leading scorer, midway through the third quarter. The junior guard, who is arguably the on and off court leader for Carrie Moore’s team, went down with a non-contact left knee injury and did not return for the rest of the evening.

Harvard Athletics did not respond to a request for comment on White’s status.

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Harvard women’s basketball escapes Brown’s upset bid, 60-57

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Down one to Brown with 25 seconds to go and Harvard women’s basketball’s dream of an Ivy League regular season title slipping away, the Crimson’s Harmoni Turner drove straight down the lane for the go-ahead layup. Met by three Bears, the senior guard found an open Elena Rodriguez and the senior forward banked it in to put the Crimson up 58-57.

With no timeouts left for either team, junior guard Grace Arnolie pushed the ball up the right side for Bruno. Faced with her own triple-team, she dished it off to Olivia Young at the top of the arc. The sophomore guard quickly rifled the rock to senior center Gianna Aiello, who was wide open in front of the net.

After Rodriguez missed the steal, Aiello took a stutter step and definitively shot the ball against the backboard, hoping to put Bruno back on top, but it rattled off the rim and into Turner’s hands with less than five seconds left on the clock.

The All-Ivy guard, who is third in free throw percentage in the Ancient Eight, hit both free throws to put the game away for Harvard.

With the win, the Crimson (20-3, 9-2 Ivy) are tied for second in the conference with Princeton, one game away from Columbia, and the third team to clinch a spot in the Ivy League Tournament, which will be played on the same Pizzitola Sports Center court where they played on Saturday afternoon.

A victory over one of the top teams in the Ancient Eight would have given a huge boost to Brown’s Ivy Madness chances, but the loss dropped the Bears (10-14, 4-7) into fifth place, one game away from Penn.

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Harvard women’s basketball holds on for 72-62 win over Illinois State

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At her weekly press conferences, Harvard women’s basketball coach Carrie Moore often discusses her Detroit roots, the grittiness that comes with being a part of the Motor City and her desire for her players to play with that level of toughness.

On Sunday afternoon, her Crimson didn’t always have their best stuff, but they pushed back against a physical Illinois State (2-2) team to come away with a hard-fought 72-62 victory. 

The win gave Harvard (7-1) a sweep of its first of two consecutive back-to-back games and a five-game winning streak.

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Harmoni Turner sets Harvard women’s basketball single-game scoring record in win over Boston College

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Harmoni Turner had a game for the ages on Wednesday night as the Harvard women’s basketball team defeated Boston College, 78-70, at Lavietes Pavilion.  

Turner scored 41 points, an all-time program record for points in a game. The senior guard also grabbed 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season.  

The Mansfield, Texas native was scorching hot from the field all night long, shooting 14-for-23, including 7-for-11 from beyond the arc. But it wasn’t until the final second of the game that she broke the program’s single-game scoring record of 39 points, a mark previously set by two players – Allison Feaster in 1997 and Hana Peljto in 2004.

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Harvard women’s basketball wipes out at Quinnipiac, 76-53

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Harvard followed-up an inspirational win over No. 25 Indiana Thursday by laying an egg Sunday in Hamden, Conn. against Quinnipiac. The Bobcats mauled Harvard, 76-53.

“This is a tough after a win on Thursday over a good team. The maturity didn’t carry over. Disappointing lack of intensity,” Harvard coach Carrie Moore said.

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How Harvard women’s basketball took down No. 25 Indiana

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For the first time in the Carrie Moore era, the Harvard women defeated a Top 25 team, beating No. 25 Indiana, 72-68, in overtime on Thursday night.

“I’m just so happy for them,” the head coach told the BIG+ Network immediately after the buzzer ended and she was mobbed by her jubilant team. “When I got here, there was a lot of work that needed to be done, and these guys bought in and invested.”

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Harvard men’s and women’s basketball victorious in doubleheader sweep

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After more than four hours of opening night basketball at Lavietes Pavilion, the Harvard faithful were in a great mood following wins by their men’s and women’s programs.

The men (1-0) started off the festivities with a convincing 79-66 victory over Marist (0-1), while the women (1-0) pulled away late from in-state rival UMass (0-1) on its way to a 71-55 triumph.

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