CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Big Red women's basketball team dropped a 60-54 heartbreaker to Harvard this evening at Lavietes Pavilion. The game was tightly contested throughout until the Crimson used a 16-4 lead late in the second half to erase the Big Red's halftime lead and hold on for the victory.
 
Cornell (15-10, 6-5 Ivy) was led by Megan LeDuc's 13 points, all of which came in the second half, while Nicholle Aston finished with 10 points on a 4-of-6 performance from the floor. Aston also grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season. Nia Marshall and Kerri Moran both chipped in nine pints with Marshall grabbing five rebounds and Moran handing out two assists.
 
Harvard (11-14, 4-7 Ivy) was led by Erin McDonnell and Kit Metoyer with 15 points apiece, while Temi Fagbenle registered an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double. Annmarie Healy also reached double figures (11 points) and grabbed nine rebounds as the Crimson held the 42-33 advantage on the boards.
 
Cornell took a 27-23 lead into the intermission despite the Crimson shooting nearly 42 percent, to the Big Red's 34 percent. The home team also held the 19-17 edge in rebounding, but the Big Red's defense was tough on the floor, forcing Harvard into 10 first half turnovers with seven steals.
 
Unfortunately for the Big Red, the Crimson cut down on its turnovers in the second half (five) and managed to hit 43.3 percent from the floor and 37.5 percent from beyond the arc, while holding Cornell to just 36.7 percent overall and a mere 15.4 percent from long range over the final 20 minutes.
 
Cornell finished the game at 35.5 percent overall (22-62) and 22.7 percent from 3-point range (5-22), while the home team knocked down 42.6 percent overall (23-54) and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc (5-15).
 
The teams traded baskets through the first 12 minutes of the first half, with neither squad going up by more than three points before the Big Red used a 9-2 run with four points from Aston, a trey from Maddie Campbell and a layup from Marshall putting the visitors up, 20-15, with 5:33 to go in the half.
 
A trey from the top of the key by Metoyer ended the run, but Marshall answered with a deep jumper to put Cornell back up, 22-18. The teams went back to trading baskets, with a trey from Taylor DePalma being answered with a 3-pointer from Shipa Tummala, but Aston nailed an elbow jumper at the buzzer to send the Big Red into the intermission with the 27-23 lead.
 
Cornell pushed its lead to six points (29-23) on a jumper from LeDuc to open the half but then missed open looks on back-to-back possessions as the Crimson used a 7-1 run to knot the game at 30-30 with 16:05 to play.
 
LeDuc's jumper in the lane ended the run but a fastbreak layup from Healy tied the game again at 32 apiece. Back-to-back jumpers from Aston and Christine Kline put Cornell up, 36-32, but McDonnell answered with a big trey on Harvard's next possession to spark a 16-4 Crimson run that put the home team up, 48-40, with just over seven minutes to play.
 
Once again LeDuc ended the run, this time with a trey from the top of the key, but the momentum was short lived as McDonald converted a traditional three-point play to restore the eight point lead to the home team (51-43).
 
Three consecutive points from Marshall and a pair of free throws from LeDuc were sandwiched around a single free throw from Healy to make it a 52-47 game with 3:07 to play. After trading baskets, DePalma nailed a trey from the corner to make it a four-point game with 36 seconds showing on the clock. The Big Red fouled and sent McDonnell to the line, where she missed the front end of the one-and-one, but Cornell couldn't convert on the other end.
 
Another foul sent Metoyer to the line and she knocked down the first of four straight, around a layup from LeDuc, to account for the 60-54 final.
 
Cornell is back in action tomorrow night when it takes on Dartmouth in Leede Arena at 6 p.m.