ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell women's basketball team erased an early deficit and carried the lead for the majority of the second half before watching Harvard use a decisive 13-1 run to take a slim lead it would not relinquish en route to a 61-57 victory this afternoon at Newman Arena.
 
Cornell (14-8, 5-3) was led by Nia Marshall's 27-point, 10-rebound double-double, while Nicholle Aston and Megan LeDuc finished with 10 points apiece. Aston also added seven rebounds, while LeDuc handed out five assists. Sophomore guard Taylor DePalma also matched a career-high with six points, all of which came during the Big Red's first half comeback.
 
Harvard (10-12, 3-5) was led by Erin McDonnell and Kit Metoyer with 17 and 12 points, respectively, while Annmarie Healy grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
 
The Crimson held the slim edge in rebounds, 38-36, but had one more turnover than Cornell (14-13). Harvard also shot just a little bit better from the floor, connecting on 37.7 percent from the game, including a mark of 45.5 percent during the decisive second half.
 
Cornell connected on 33.3 percent overall and 23.5 percent from beyond the arc.
 
After digging itself into an early 8-0 deficit and eventually trailing by nine points (16-7) at the 11:47 mark, the Big Red stormed back, scoring 10 unanswered points to go up, 17-16 with just over seven minutes to play in the first half. During the run Cornell got four points from Marshall, a corner trey from DePalma and a deep 3-pointer from LeDuc as the shot clock expired.
 
The teams traded baskets down the stretch before a layup from Aston and a pair of made free throws from Sarah Poland sent Cornell into the intermission with the 29-25 lead.  
 
Harvard got the benefit of the whistle early in the second half and managed to take a 33-31 lead, with four of its first eight points coming from the free throw line. A jumper from Moran and a trey from LeDuc returned the 36-33 lead to the home team with 17:10 to play.
 
A jumper from Marshall with just over 13 minutes left on the clock pushed Cornell's lead to seven points (42-35), but another push by the Crimson found the game tied at 45-45 when Kirby Porter knocked down a pair of free throws. Despite some tough defense from the home team, Cornell could not regain the lead, going for a span of over six minutes late in the second half without a field goal.
 
A late push in the final moments saw Cornell make it a two-point game (57-55) with just 24 seconds to play, but the Crimson made its free throws down the stretch to seal the 61-57 victory.
 
The Big Red is back in action next weekend when it welcomes Yale and Brown to Newman Arena on Friday, Feb. 20 and Saturday, Feb. 21, respectively.  The game against the Bears will serve as the team's annual Play 4 Kay game.