CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard women's basketball team ran its current winning streak to 15 games as it hung on to defeat the Big Red, 62-59, in Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge, Mass. The game is the fifth in the past six meetings to be decided by six or fewer points.
 
Nicholle Aston led four Cornell players in double figures with 14 points, to go along with six rebounds. Megan LeDuc finished with 12 points and handed out six assists, while Kerri Moran tallied 11 points. Nia Marshall tallied her second double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
 
More than half of Harvard's points came from two players, as Sydney Skinner finished with a career-high 23 points, while Taylor Rooks chipped in 13. Forward Jeannie Boehm pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds to help the home team to a 44-37 advantage on the boards.
 
The game was incredibly close throughout, with 12 ties and 10 lead changes.
 
Harvard (15-1) connected on .381 percent from the floor (24-63) and .316 percent from 3-point range (6-19), while the Big Red hit just .355 percent overall (22-62), but was slightly better beyond the arc at .357 percent (5-14).
 
The Crimson turned the ball over 13 times to Cornell's 12.
 
Cornell (11-5) got out to an 8-3 lead just two minutes into the contest thanks to a pair of treys from LeDuc. The Crimson responded with a 13-2 run and eventually took an 18-12 lead into the first break.
 
Neither team's offenses managed to get much going early in the second quarter and the Big Red didn't hit a basket until the 6:20 mark when Caroline Shelquist came into the game and knocked down a trey on her first touch. Shelquist's basket began 10-5 Cornell run that was capped by a Christine Ehland bucket at the buzzer to make Harvard's lead, 26-25, at halftime.
 
A pair of made free throws to open the third quarter returned the lead to the Big Red (27-26) and the teams traded buckets the rest of the way with neither team going up by more than four points before going into the final break tied, 44-44.
 
A bucket by Destiny Nunley to start the fourth quarter was answered by a layup from Aston, but six unanswered points put the home team up, 52-46, with just under six minutes to play. The Big Red had one final push, as a three-point play from Marshall, followed by a pair of made free throws from Moran, put Cornell back up, 57-56. Consecutive buckets from Skinner provided the 10th and final lead change of the game, putting the Crimson up, 61-57 with 1:44 to play.
 
LeDuc answered with a step-back foul line jumper and Cornell forced a bad shot on the other end, but the Big Red couldn't take advantage and was forced to foul. Skinner made just one of two free throws to give Cornell one last chance, trailing by three with 35 seconds to play. The Big Red got off two 3-point attempts, but both came up short and the Crimson escaped with the 62-59 victory.
 
Cornell will look to get back on track tomorrow, as it travels to Dartmouth to take on the Big Green on Saturday, Jan. 28, at 6 p.m.