Women’s Basketball: Terriers Fall to Harvard Despite Late Surge

By Luke Scotchie

Boston University Women’s Basketball (5-5) fell to the Harvard University Crimson (6-5) on Wednesdsay by a final score of 73-58 at Case Gymnasium.

Leading the way for the Terriers was senior forward Maren Durant, who finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists on 6-for-10 shooting. BU Head Coach Melissa Graves praised Durant’s effort in this game, as well as how important her consistently strong performances and leadership has been throughout this season.

“[Durant] is valuable in every aspect I can think of, on and off the court,” Graves said. “She played her butt off tonight.”

For the Crimson, reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year Harmoni Turner gave the Terriers trouble all game. Turner torched BU’s defense to award Harvard 28 points on 12-for-21 shooting from the field. No matter what type of defense BU tried to throw at her, Turner was able to get past it and score, which Graves conceded.

“I thought Harmoni Turner was phenomenal today,” Graves said. “We couldn’t guard that kid. She’s a tremendous athlete.”

In addition, the Terriers struggled to maintain control of the ball, especially in the first half. Harvard scored 21 points off of BU turnovers, many of those turning into easy buckets in the paint. This statistic exacerbated the Terriers’ porous paint defense during this game, which Graves said to be a huge factor in her team’s loss.

“Unfortunately, we ended up giving up 52 paint points, which really hurt us,” Graves said. “I think a lot of those were off the turnovers that we had where they got layups.”

Even though the Terriers’ defense near the hoop was not optimal, they had a lot more success guarding away from it. Graves believed that the Terriers’ outstanding 3-point defense against the Crimson kept Harvard from an easy win.

“What I thought we did a really good job [with] was limiting [Harvard’s] 3-point shots,” Graves said. “2-for-18 and 11% is probably the lowest they shot all year.”

Both teams fought equally as hard in the first quarter, ending with a score of 15-15. However, the Crimson went on an 8-0 run midway through the second quarter, capitalizing off of BU’s turnover troubles with 11 points off of them. With a blink of an eye, the score became 37-26 in Harvard’s favor, due in large part to their quick scoring bursts and that run.

“What Harvard is great at is being able to fill up the hoop,” Graves said. “They can score the basketball.”

The Terriers came alive in the second half though. After finishing the first half scoreless, senior guard Sydney Johnson forced three Harvard turnovers off of airtight defense that led to steals and points off of open lanes. Before long, the entire BU team was filling up the scoreboard off of mostly Harvard turnovers, flipping the script that Harvard had been writing the period before.

“[Johnson] is someone who can play on both sides of the ball,” Graves said. “I’ve been talking to her a lot about what else she can contribute with, and defensively is definitely a key to it.”

Johnson’s innate ability to make an immediate impact, regardless of how well she shoots, is what makes her such a special player, according to Graves.

“[Johnson] came out in the second half and thought, ‘How can I get myself going? How can I get my team going?’” Graves said. “That’s her ability, obviously being a preseason player of the year for the Patriot League, her ability… to play on both sides of the ball and just find other ways to get going when shots aren’t falling.”

The Terriers continued putting points up in the fourth quarter, with late threes from sophomore forward Lauren Davenport and freshman forward Anastasiia Semenova helped cut Harvard’s once insurmountable lead to only five points with little time left. But Harvard went on another scoring run to seal the game, ending a well-fought effort by the Terriers.

“I think at the end of the day, they just scored more than we did.” Graves said.

The Terriers will travel to Annapolis, Maryland for their next game, where they will play Navy on Dec. 30 at 1 p.m. at Alumni Hall.