CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The name Kelsey Carey must be right on top of any Harvard scouting report. After scoring a career-high 27 points against the Crimson last season, Carey exploded for a season-high 20 points and contributed six rebounds and three assists, but this season it was not enough. The Stags limited one of the nation's hottest shooting teams to a 1-for-10 performance from behind the arc during the first 29 minutes, but the Crimson connected on a 3-pointer to end the third quarter and to begin the fourth and used that momentum to take a 58-44 victory against the Fairfield University women's basketball team.
Carey started her day strong by helping the Stags in a personal dominating first quarter. The senior scored eight of the first nine Fairfield points on 4-for-5 shooting during that span giving the Stags an early 9-8 first quarter lead. Harvard was able to weather that Carey storm and took their first lead of the game with a 3-pointer by Sydney Skinner with two minutes left in the opening quarter. That long range shot was the first for the Crimson as the Stags defense held one of the nation's best shooting teams in check. Harvard checked into the game 12th in the country in both 3-pointers made per game and 3-point percentage, but the home side misfired on their first four attempts from long range, and eventually nine of their first 10
The storyline of Carey continued to unfold in the second quarter as Carey recorded the team's first three field goals of the stanza, bringing her total to 14 of the team's first 18 points. Junior guard Macey Hollenshead broke Carey's streak when the guard made an acrobatic play for a layup. With a defender charging, Hollenshead was able to catch a pass, go behind her back with the trickery and finish with a wide-open layup. The Stags were able to knot the score at 23-23 after a 3-pointer by Sam Kramer, but Fairfield would not score again in the half and the Crimson went on a 5-0 run to take a 28-23 lead into the locker room.
Fairfield was able to grab the lead on a couple of occasions during the third quarter, including the first field goal of the day for Kristine Miller making the score 33-32 with 4:32 left in the frame. Once again, Carey was the forefront of another potential Fairfield comeback when her 20th point of the evening cut the Stags deficit to 38-37, but she misfired on the ensuing free throw and Harvard was able to knock down a 3-pointer giving the Crimson a 41-37 lead into the fourth.
That long range shot by Nani Redford was just the second made 3-pointer for a team that entered the evening averaging 9.8 per game. However, they made them when they needed to. Skinner opened up the largest lead of the evening at 44-37 with a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter. Samantha Cooper gave the Stags some hope with their first long range shot since Kramer tied the game in the second quarter. Cooper's 3-pointer cut the Harvard lead to 46-42. Kendra Landy made a pretty play to get the deficit back to four midway through the final quarter. With six seconds left on the shot clock, Landy drove down the lane and made a floating pass over the arms of a defender right to Miller who finished the layup.
However, Harvard made the shot when they needed it. Katie Benzan, a freshman who entered the game connecting on 42 percent of her outside shots, made a corner shot out of the media timeout to bring the lead back to seven. Two Crimson players reached double figures with 6-3 freshman Jeannie Boehm (12 points) and the sophomore Skinner (14 points) reaching the plateau.
With her 20 points, Carey reached double figures for the sixth-straight game, the longest streak of her career.
The Stags will take a break from the non-conference schedule and open up MAAC play, traveling to Siena on Thursday at 7pm.
