Katie Krupa

Harvard women’s basketball downs Dartmouth, 74-40

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Harvard and Dartmouth women’s basketball tip off at Leede Arena Saturday for what became a 74-40 win for the Crimson over the Big Green. (Ray Curren / Ivy Hoops Online)

HANOVER, N.H. – The Harvard women’s basketball team knew its Ivy League Tournament place was secure heading into Saturday’s regular season finale Saturday afternoon against Dartmouth.

But as much as they probably didn’t want to look too closely at it, the Crimson also knew their hopes of an NCAA Tournament at-large berth was in a very precarious spot, listed as one of the Last Four In or dreaded Last Four Out on most bracketologies in the last two weeks.

So, even though Dartmouth was banged up and coming in on an 11-game losing streak, Harvard left nothing to chance on Dartmouth’s Senior Day, using their pressure to dominate from the opening tip, eventually posting a 74-40 victory at Leede Arena.

“We just really wanted to finish the regular season on a high note,” Harvard coach Carrie Moore said. “We didn’t feel great about how we played last weekend, so we wanted to get back to how we know we can play, and I felt we did that, especially the upperclassmen who set the tone early.”

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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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Taking stock of the big three at the midway point of the Ivy League women’s basketball season

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With seven conference games in the books for every Ivy League women’s basketball team, the race for the regular season conference title has reached the halfway mark. 

The three teams picked in the preseason to contend for an Ivy League title – Princeton, Columbia and Harvard – have lived up to their billing, racking up big wins in the nonconference season and largely dominating the other five Ivy teams in league play.

Here’s where each of the big three stands as we head into the final five weeks of the Ivy League regular season:

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Harvard women’s basketball crushes Brown, 83-53, to get back into win column

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The Harvard women rebounded from last weekend’s last-second loss to Princeton in a big way, dominating Brown in all facets of the game in route to an easy 83-53 victory Saturday afternoon at Lavietes Pavilion.

While Carrie Moore’s squad, presently ranked the No. 2 team in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25, is now 13-2 overall and 2-1 in the Ivy League, Monique LeBlanc’s Bears are 7-9 for the season and 1-2 in the Ancient Eight.

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Rivalry games are tough, but Harvard women’s basketball bests Yale, 61-43

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“Don’t let up, pedal on the gas,” Carrie Moore said midway through the third period with Harvard women’s basketball building a scoring run against Yale.

Moore’s Crimson defeated host Yale, 61-43, in a surprisingly competitive game Saturday to open Ivy League play.

Consider that Harvard (12-1, 1-0 Ivy) had already defeated Boston University by 60 (86-26) and Yale had fallen to the Terriers, 77-56, just last week.

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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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Harvard women’s basketball cruises to 75-50 victory over Northwestern

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If there’s any more conference realignment on the horizon, the Harvard women may want to consider heading over to the Big Ten. For the second time this year, the Crimson traveled to the Midwest and came away with a victory.

While Harvard (6-1) needed overtime to defeat then-No. 25 Indiana, 72-68, on Nov. 7, it easily handled Northwestern (1-3), 70-65, on Saturday afternoon.

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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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