After the thrilling 74-71 victory over Columbia in the Ivy League Tournament Championship last weekend, the Harvard Women’s Basketball team flew to North Carolina on Thursday to prepare for their first-round game of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. The Ivy League title was Harvard’s first since the event’s inception in 2017, and the team’s NCAA No. 10 seed reflects a return to March Madness for the first time in 18 years.
Helming this meteoric run is Carrie Moore, the Kathy Delaney-Smith Head Coach for Harvard Women’s Basketball.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my team and the staff,” said the third-year coach. “It was a dramatic way to end the tournament, but if it didn’t end that way, it wouldn’t be us. You couldn’t write the story any better. It makes everything we’ve gone through over the last three years worth it.”
Moore said she is especially proud of how the team battled moments of adversity.
“I’ve always told our team, ‘You either win or you learn,’” she said. “That’s who we are. That’s our makeup. We are a resilient group. We’ve done a really good job this season of having a ‘next-play mentality’ and focusing on the process and not the outcome. We knew we were going to take these games one possession at a time, and one timeout at a time, and we never panicked.”
“From the top down, I’m so proud of the program,” said team captain and forward Katie Krupa ’26. “Coach Moore has done an excellent job handling each and every challenge.
“It was such an overwhelming feeling of joy and pride in the group. Everything we worked for and wanted was building to that moment. We’ve all really gelled this year and got the dynamics right off and on the court. This sisterhood is as strong as it’s ever been,” she added.
The Crimson, led by senior Harmoni Turner, who scored 44 points to help the Crimson reach the Ivy League championship, will play No. 7 seed Michigan State on Saturday afternoon. Moore said Harvard is ready for the national spotlight, and eager to make its presence known to the nation.
“We’re not just excited to be there,” Moore said. “We’re excited to go into this tournament, play really well, and win some games this weekend.”
“You go through so many peaks and valleys on and off the court during a season, it’s all about how you respond each time you hit that valley, and we’ve responded excellently every time this season,” added Krupa. “We have nothing to lose. We can go out there and show the world what we’re made of.”
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