Home of the Roundball Poets
As Monday night’s WNBA Draft came to a close, Ivy League fans had something to cheer about when former Penn forward Jordan Obi’s name was called by the defending champion Las Vegas Aces with the 44th pick.
The most points in a game for a Harvard women’s basketball player .#GoCrimson x #BelieveIt pic.twitter.com/WUjawiCO4b
— Harvard Women’s Basketball (@HarvardWBB) November 15, 2024
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.
Princeton’s Bella Alarie didn’t have to wait long to hear her name, as she was called with the fifth overall pick by the Dallas Wings in Friday night’s WNBA Draft.
“It’s been my lifelong dream to play in the WNBA, so it was a really special moment,” Alarie told WNBA media. “I’m glad I got to share it with my family.”
Earlier in the week, Dallas President, CEO and General Manager Greg Bibb discussed his interest in Alarie with Ivy Hoops Online and sealed the deal with the team’s second pick of the first round.
Bella becomes the second member of the family chosen in the first round, following her father, Mark, who went to the Denver Nuggets with the 18th pick in the 1986 NBA Draft. She also joins former teammate Leslie Robinson as the only other Tiger to be drafted in the WNBA and equals the highest spot ever by an Ivy League hoopster with Harvard’s Allison Feaster (1998; Los Angeles Sparks).
With the nation continuing its fight against the coronavirus pandemic and the sports world on hiatus, the WNBA will provide some actual live entertainment on Friday night as the league’s draft will be televised at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN. Ivy hoops fans will have an additional bit of interest waiting to hear Bella Alarie’s name.
Alarie, a three-time Ivy League Player of the Year, four-time first team All-Ivy, two-time AP Honorable Mention All-America and all-time Princeton leader in both points and blocks, looks to be the third Ancient Eight athlete picked in Draft history and the first chosen in the opening round since Harvard’s Allison Feaster went No. 5 overall to the Los Angeles Sparks in 1998.
One of the greatest players in Ivy League basketball history is a member of the Boston Celtics organization.
And we’re not talking about Jerome Allen.
Allison Feaster, a 1998 Harvard graduate and the all-time leading scorer in Harvard women’s basketball history, has been hired by the Celtics as director of player development.