SIMON SKJODT ASSEMBLY HALL - With 35 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and Harvard trailing by three, Harvard’s backs were against the wall on the road. Having responded to Indiana’s offense all forty minutes while also weighing against the home crowd, Harvard’s Alayna Rocco had one final chance to keep their hopes alive.
Led by pure grit for all four quarters, Rocco set her feet and swished the game-tying triple to make it 63-63. In a game where truly every possession mattered, Harvard came out on top 72-68 in overtime, in a game with 45 total turnovers.
“They were physical with us. Nothing that we did was easy,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. “ It's disappointing that we didn’t match that physicality.”
Indiana opened the game with turnovers in three of the first four possessions, ending with 11 total after the first period. The reason why, Harvard’s full-court press was impenetrable right out the gate, and continued to be the theme the rest of the way.
What felt like a turnover in seemingly every offensive possession to open the game, Harvard dominated in every facet, as they took a commanding 21-7 lead after the first. Harvard’s full-court press was the deciding factor early on, and lingered on the rest of the way.
While Indiana’s ball handlers were put to the test in the first quarter, the Hoosiers settled in and got their offense rolling. In the second quarter, Indiana’s Yarden Garzon took charge of the offense, scoring seven and forcing a momentum changing timeout after a transition three, cutting Indiana’s deficit to eight.
Garzon ended the game as Indiana’s leading scorer with 20 points, but it just wasn’t enough in the end. In that second quarter, Indiana outscored Harvard 23-11, making the score 32-30 by halftime.
With pressure mounting well into the second half, Indiana and Harvard both tied in scoring 16-16 in the third. Offensively for Harvard, Harmoni Turner was the playmaker down the stretch, and made all the right plays in crunch time. Turner finished with 24 points, on an efficient 10/17 shooting.
Heading into the fourth, Harvard led 48-46 with no intention of letting up. Despite a roaring home crowd, the Crimson’s grittiness and sense of urgency was almost palpable. With both Indiana and Harvard going back-and-forth the entire fourth quarter, Alayna Rocco’s clutch game tying three sent the game to overtime, and ultimately sealed Indiana’s fate.
“It may not happen as early as our fans and maybe as we would like, but we have to stick to the process of trying to improve a little bit more everyday, ” Moren said.
In the overtime period, Indiana added five more turnovers to the docket, handing Harvard the opportunity to seal the deal, and they did just that. Haromni Turner added four points in overtime, and didn’t make any unforced errors. Leading 70-68 with 17 seconds left, Indiana’s Julianna LaMendola had a chance to tie it up. LaMendola split two defenders, but left the game-tying layup short off the front rim, hammering the nail in the coffin for Indiana.
With a final score of 72-68, Indiana drops to 1-1 on the young season, and will look ahead to play Butler on November 13th.
