ITHACA, N.Y. – Laura Bagwell-Katalinich posted a career-high 25 point and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season, but it wasn't enough as the Big Red women's basketball team fell to Harvard, 68-61, this evening in Newman Arena. Cornell fought its way back into the contest late, but it was a quick start from the Crimson that proved to be too much for the home team to overcome
 
Samantha Widmann was a workhorse, playing 40 minutes and finishing with 14 points to go along with three rebounds, three assists and three steals, while Danielle Jorgenson handed out a game-high four assists and chipped in six points and three boards.
 
Harvard (11-8, 4-2 Ivy) was led by Katie Benzan's 20 points, while Madeline Raster tallied 18. The Crimson used their substantial height difference to hold the 49-32 edge on the boards, led by Jadyn Bush and Jeannie Boehm with 12 and 10 rebounds, respectively.
 
Cornell connected on 33.3 percent for the game (20-60) but shot just .222 from beyond the arc (2-9), while the Crimson made 36.2 percent overall (21-58) and connected on .321 from 3-point range (9-28). The Big Red held the edge in turnovers, 20-14, but was unable to cash in on Harvard's miscues and the visitors actually held the 17-10 advantage in points off turnovers. The Crimson also had more second chance points (14-4), while Cornell had more in points in the paint (24-22) and more points off the bench (8-5).
 
Harvard jumped out to a 13-2 lead just three minutes into the contest and eventually stretched its lead to a game-high 17 points as it doubled-up Cornell, 34-17, on a layup from Boehm with 5:53 to go in the second quarter. From there, the Big Red's defense tightened up and the home team closed the first half on an 8-2 run to pull within 11 points at the half (36-25).
 
A trey by Benzan opened the third quarter and the teams traded baskets until another 3-pointer from Raster pushed the visitors lead back to 15 points (46-31) at the 3:47 mark. Once again, Cornell stormed back and closed the stanza strong to trail 52-42 at the final break.
 
The Big Red turned up the pressure both defensively and offensively in the fourth, forcing six Harvard turnovers and sending three Crimson players to the bench with their fifth fouls of the contest. Cornell got within eight points twice before eventually making it a six-point game (67-61) on a pair of free throws from Widmann, but with just five seconds remaining in the contest it was too little, too late.
 
Cornell (7-10, 1-5 Ivy) opens up a four-game road trip when it travels to Brown and Yale on Friday, Feb. 15 and Saturday, Feb. 16, respectively. Cornell tips with the Bears at 7 p.m., before taking on the Bulldogs at 5 p.m.