PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Harvard had Harmoni Turner, and Princeton didn’t.
In a game of the closest margins, the difference felt like it was just that.
The Ivy League Player of the Year went off for 44 points against the Tigers, as Harvard (24–4 overall, 12–3 Ivy League) staged a fourth-quarter comeback to beat Princeton (21–8, 12–3), 70–67. With this performance, Turner broke Harvard’s in-game scoring record of 41 points, which she set back in November, as well as the Ivy League Tournament in-game scoring record previously held by Kaitlyn Chen ’24 with 30 points.
“Going into the game, I knew it was going to be a challenge,” Head Coach Carla Berube told The Daily Princetonian postgame. “They put together a great 40 minutes. Harmoni Turner was Harmoni Turner.”
Two notable battles emerged early in the game. The first was evident by the box score: Turner versus Princeton’s big three on offense. The second was the battle for second-chance points. Though the Tigers’ success off the glass gave them the early lead, the Crimson’s relentless pursuit of rebounds allowed them to capitalize on extended possessions and earn back lost momentum.
“In the second half, the amount of second chance opportunities that we gave them … really hurt us,” Berube said.
Princeton now has to wait for Selection Sunday to learn their March Madness fate, where they currently sit on the very edge of the bubble. Never before have three Ivy League teams made the tournament, but in a year when two feels like a certainty and the bubble is already thin, the Tigers will be anxiously awaiting their fate.
“I do believe we are an NCAA tournament team,” Berube told the ‘Prince.’ “I think we showed that today, tonight, and throughout the whole season. I think we’ll all look forward to Selection Sunday.”
ESPN’s Charlie Creme currently has Princeton sitting as the last team in, with Virginia Tech (18–12, 9–9 ACC) as the first team out. However, other analysts see the Hokies sitting one place above the Tigers.
Sophomore guard Skye Belker paced Princeton with 20 points, followed by fellow sophomore guards Ashley Chea and Fadima Tall with 15 and 11, respectively, in a fitting performance for a season categorized by sophomore standouts.
The intensity was evident from the tipoff, which was won by senior forward Parker Hill. Both sides went deep into the shot clock, navigating the two top defenses in the Ivy League with no easy points given. Turner got the Crimson started, connecting on her first two three-point attempts.
As Princeton entered the second quarter up 15–11, the Turner show continued on the other end. She played steady across all four quarters, despite little help from the rest of the starting five on the stat sheet. Notably, fellow All-Ivy honoree Elena Rodriguez, who scored 22 against Princeton in their first matchup, had been held silent thus far, appearing to be suffering from a hurt left knee.
Going into the half, Princeton salvaged a five-point lead. Up 36–31, Princeton couldn’t rest easy, as Turner, who had scored 15 points in both of the Harvard-Princeton matchups this year, already had 21 on the day.
A quieter storyline evolving was the battle in the paint. Princeton’s bigs had only combined for seven points, and Harvard, who had a size disadvantage, outrebounded Princeton 18–17 in the half.
Harvard took the ball coming out of the break, but Princeton seized momentum. Tall set the tone with a floater in the dwindling seconds of Princeton’s first possession, and the Tigers kept working, building their lead up to double digits for the first time all day.
In a small crowd of 458, small groups of fans made their voices heard, and the Harvard faithful, who were loud at the beginning of the half, quieted momentarily as Princeton built their lead up to 13.
“We were in control of the tempo,” Tall said of Princeton’s play during their lead. “On offense, we were getting a lot of the shots that we wanted and [were] breaking the press at the speed we wanted to.”
Draining shots from all over the court, Turner overcame tight defense from sophomore guard Olivia Hutcherson and first-year guard Toby Nweke to bring the Crimson back, as the Princeton lead fell to one entering the fourth quarter.
Starting off the fourth quarter, senior forward Katie Thiers checked in and immediately made her presence known, with a layup and a drawn foul that led to a Chea three.
In the blink of an eye, a frantic fourth quarter passed by, with no lead bigger than four by either team in the last eight minutes. Harvard built up a three-point lead, and the game came down to one possession. Princeton had the ball down three with seventeen seconds left.
Inbounding with a few seconds left after Harvard deflected a pass out of bounds, Belker heaved up a last-gasp three that bounced off the backboard as the Crimson stormed the court.
Alongside the Turner show, Princeton lost in the post on both sides of the court. Despite Princeton’s height advantage, the Crimson outrebounded the Tigers 17–8 on the offensive glass, with multiple possessions in the second half ending in third- or fourth-chance points for Harvard.
“They were on us,” Berube said of Harvard’s post defense. “Clearly, Harvard made a decision that they didn’t want us to get the ball inside.”
The Ivy final is now set, with Harvard and Columbia playing tomorrow night. Princeton has an anxious 45 hours ahead of them as their fate no longer rests in their hands.
“It’s out of our control,” Berube said. “We can only say or show what we’ve accomplished.”
Max Hines is a senior Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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