After a short, 20-minute bus ride from the Heights, Boston College women’s basketball walked into Harvard’s Lavietes Pavilion for a Thursday night showdown.
Entering the crosstown matchup, the Eagles had dominated all three of their preceding games, outscoring their opponents by a combined margin of 120 points.
But as soon as the players took to the hardwood, Harvard guard Harmoni Turner made it clear that the Crimson (3–1) were not going to be the victims of a fourth-consecutive BC (3–1) steamroll.
“I think we knew going in that she was going to be an aggressive shot taker,” BC head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. “We just didn’t do a great job stopping the main person that they rely on to score.”
Turner put on a show against the Eagles, delivering a nuclear offensive performance on her home court en route to a 78–70 Harvard win. She erupted for a 41-point, 10-rebound double-double on 61 percent shooting. She also went 7 of 11 from behind the arc, with four of those coming in the first quarter alone.
“She hit some really good shots with us right in her face as well,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “She had just a heck of a game.”
Despite Turner’s 15-point first quarter, the Eagles’ defense came into their own in the second.
Spearheaded by forward Teya Sidberry, who finished the game with seven rebounds, two blocks, and two steals, BC’s defense only allowed 10 points in the second quarter as opposed to 27 in the first. The Eagles entered halftime having cut Harvard’s lead from 13 all the way down to just four.
To begin the second half, both teams found their grooves. Turner continued to shine on the offensive end, but the Eagles kept it close, managing to close out the quarter deadlocked in a 56–56 tie.
But at the dawn of the fourth quarter, the offensive struggles that defined much of BC’s first half made a fateful return. The Eagles shot a measly 2 of 9 from the field, including going 1 of 6 from deep. Nine of their 14 fourth-quarter points came off free throws.
“They kind of came back and played us with a little bit of full-court pressure,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “And instead of attacking that pressure and putting them on their heels, we let that pressure put us at a little bit of a tentative state on the offensive end.”
The fourth-quarter struggles eventually culminated in an all-out offensive collapse as the game entered its final minute. As point guard Kaylah Ivey brought the ball up the floor, the Eagles were only down by three—all they needed was one bucket to keep themselves in the race to the buzzer.
But once again, the Eagles’ offensive scheme quickly fell apart. Ivey soon found herself trapped by multiple Harvard defenders on the 3-point line. With 27 seconds left in the game, she heaved up a deep fadeaway three, only for it to be blocked and secured by the defense.
“I just think she lost track of the time that was left … and rushed a little bit there,”
Bernabei-McNamee said of the play. “We could have easily pulled it back out and got something better.”
The clock wound down from there, and the Eagles picked up their first loss of the 2024–25 campaign by a final score of 78–70.
“We needed a game where we were challenged, and I think this was it,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “Let’s get this thing on the right foot again and let’s start playing Boston College basketball.”
