In perfect Harmoni: Turner’s 44 points help Harvard upset Princeton in Ivy League Tournament semifinals

Forty-four.

Turner, a senior guard and the Ivy League Player of the Year, broke her own record at exactly the right time, leading No. 3 seed Harvard to a 70-67 win over No. 2 seed Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament semifinals. Her 44 points came on 14-for-27 shooting from the field, including 7-for-11 from 3-point range, and 9-for-10 shooting from the free-throw line. She also had seven rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block in 39:30.

Turner’s total points and 3-pointers made are both records for Ivy League Tournament play — women’s and men’s — since the modern version of the tournament began in 2017. Her point total was also one off the Ivy League record for any game.

“That was a village, [and] Harmoni was at the helm,” former Harvard head coach Kathy Delaney-Smith told The Next postgame about the Crimson’s comeback from a 13-point third-quarter deficit. “And they did a great job.”

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The stakes of Friday’s game couldn’t have been much higher. Harvard has had one of its best seasons in recent history, entering Friday 22-4 overall and 11-3 in Ivy League play. But it had lost to Princeton twice in the regular season, including once on a buzzer-beater, and didn’t win the Ivy League regular-season title, finishing third for a third straight year. So there was plenty to prove in the postseason.

In addition, Princeton and Harvard entered Friday firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble. The winner would likely punch their ticket into the field while the loser risked being left at home.

The Crimson came into the tournament confident, knowing that they were the only team ever to get an upset in the Ivy League Tournament with their win over Columbia in the 2023 semifinals. On Friday, they stayed connected and focused, and they let Turner carry them to their second Ivy Tournament final in three years.

“Harmoni Turner was Harmoni Turner: an All-American, one of the best players in the country,” Princeton head coach Carla Berube told reporters postgame.

However, Turner hadn’t played like an All-American in the two regular-season games against Princeton. Stymied by a sagging and switching Princeton defense, she scored 30 total points on just 11-for-38 shooting.

Turner took that personally, she told ESPN+ on Friday, and she spent hours in film sessions dissecting how to be more efficient against Princeton’s defense. Harvard head coach Carrie Moore changed how her offense attacked Princeton, too, using more double ball screens and rescreens to help Turner shed her defender and gain an advantage.

Princeton went under a few screens early, giving Turner open 3-pointers. A 34.5% 3-point shooter entering Friday, Turner took advantage, making two in the first three minutes.

“Oh, boy,” Moore thought to herself when those dropped through the net, sensing what was to come.

Turner hit another 3-pointer with 33 seconds left in the first quarter, giving her 9 of Harvard’s 11 points in the quarter.

It would be her lowest-scoring quarter of the game.

She hit her fourth 3-pointer 56 seconds into the second quarter, but her night wasn’t all about long-range shooting. Later in the quarter, she took a dribble inside the arc and hit a jump shot near the elbow through contact. When the whistle blew and the shot fell, she turned toward her bench at the far side of the court, her fists clenched, staring her teammates down as they cheered.

About a minute later, Turner hit her fifth 3-pointer, and Berube could only clap her hands in dismay from the Princeton sideline. At halftime, Turner had 21 points on 5-for-7 3-point shooting — yet Harvard trailed 36-31 and had only led for about four minutes of game time.

Princeton was getting many of the shots it wanted, shooting 50% in the first half. And it had only turned the ball over seven times against a Harvard press that entered the game forcing 20.8 turnovers per game, which ranked among the top 20 nationally.

The Princeton lead swelled to 13 midway through the third quarter, and it looked like Turner’s heroics might not be enough to buoy Harvard. But then Turner scored 10 of Harvard’s points during an 18-6 run.

Turner’s baskets came on an array of moves, once using several crossovers in the lane to shake free for a floater and then blowing by a defender for a layup. And naturally there was another 3-pointer, which cut the lead to 54-53 at the end of the third quarter.

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Part of what fueled Turner in that crucial quarter was a member of the Princeton band heckling her at the free-throw line.

“You suck, Harmoni! You suck!” it began.

On another trip to the line: “Overrated!” 

Turner heard the noise.

“I feel like people need to understand that the more you taunt at me, the more it gets me going,” Turner told reporters postgame. “So I know the work that I put in. I’m not gonna be fearful or be scared about somebody heckling at me that can’t pick up a ball. … I told him to keep it coming. Keep it coming, because the game’s not over.”

Turner’s onslaught also wasn’t over. She rendered a good Princeton defense helpless, and the stop sign the Princeton band brought wasn’t much help, either. She ripped off 11 of Harvard’s first 13 points in the fourth quarter, including two free throws about halfway through the quarter that gave the Crimson a 62-61 lead. It was their first lead since the score was 6-5.

Princeton responded with a layup from sophomore guard Skye Belker, who had a team-high 20 points. But Turner willed Harvard back in front, 64-63 and then 66-64. The latter, on a steal and fast-break layup, put the Crimson ahead for good. All the Harvard supporters sitting behind the team’s bench leaped to their feet screaming after that layup, then stomped their feet and chanted “Defense” along with the Crimson’s bench players.

For Moore, seeing Turner play that way felt like all they’d worked toward coming together. Moore has led Turner’s individual workouts this season — the former Division I scoring champion and professional player mentoring the Ivy League’s top scorer and future pro.

“We get to spend a lot of time in the gym just the two of us,” Moore told reporters postgame. “Quiet gyms are the best gyms, and I felt like she found a way to … really settle herself and make it feel like she’s just in the gym with me and nobody’s around. And when she plays like that, she is at her best.”

Turner helped seal the game with two plays in the final minute. First, she got into the heart of the defense and found Wright for a layup to extend Harvard’s lead to 70-67. And as Princeton chased a game-tying basket, she dove into the scorer’s table trying to get a steal. Eventually, Wright came down with the game’s final rebound.

After time had finally expired, after the handshake line and Turner’s television interview, Turner raced across the court to celebrate with her teammates. “Let’s go! Come on!” she screamed repeatedly, both to her teammates and to Harvard’s supporters.

“You got to celebrate the wins,” Turner said postgame. “… I feel like when we celebrate our wins, big or small, that builds that momentum for tomorrow.”

The win was emotional for Turner, who choked back tears in her postgame press conference as she reflected on how the program has grown in Moore’s three seasons. There was the Ivy Tournament upset in 2023 followed by a deep WNIT run, then an Ivy Tournament semifinal exit in 2024.

This fall, the Crimson committed to defense like never before, implementing the press and riding it to wins at then-No. 25 Indiana, against Boston College and at St. John’s (on a game-winning layup from Turner) in the nonconference. With Turner and second-leading scorer Elena Rodriguez being seniors, there’s a sense of urgency for Harvard to win a title. Now, it’s one win away from that — and from getting an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007.

“We’ve been through so much,” Turner said. “So many people have doubted us, and I feel like every time we still continue to prove people wrong. … I’m grateful for [Moore] because she trusts me, and I’m grateful for my teammates because they trust me. I love them to death. I would — man, I would walk through walls for them.”

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The win also reverberated because for so long, Princeton has been the queen of “survive and advance,” consistently able to fend off even the grittiest upset bids. The Tigers had won five straight Ivy League Tournament titles and had never lost in the event under Berube. Some of those wins were blowouts, but some were close, including a 5-point win over No. 4 seed Harvard in the 2022 semifinals, a 6-point win over No. 3 seed Harvard in the 2023 final and a 5-point win over No. 4 seed Penn in the 2024 semifinals.

Meanwhile, No. 1 seed Columbia, Harvard’s opponent in Saturday’s championship game, is getting better and better at surviving like that. After Harvard’s 2023 semifinal upset, Columbia beat Harvard by 2 points in the 2024 semifinals.

This year, the Lions had a historic season, winning the first outright regular-season title in program history, and they weren’t about to squander their first No. 1 seed in the tournament. They held off No. 4 seed Penn — which has pushed No. 1 seeds for three straight years now — 60-54 in a game they controlled but couldn’t put away before the final buzzer.

“Anything can happen. We talked about that,” Columbia head coach Megan Griffith told reporters postgame. “… They have to understand it’s not gonna be this perfect, ‘exactly how we thought it out’ game. And I thought that stunned us a little bit. …

“Honestly, it was just a little bit of an adjustment period for us to be like, ‘Oh, yeah. They came to play.’ [We’re] the No. 1 seed, and that’s a little bit new for us. … This was almost the best thing that could have happened to us.”

Columbia got the win despite shooting 3-for-13 in the first quarter and despite Penn containing all three of its top scorers, a rare feat for anyone this season. First-team All-Ivy guards Kitty Henderson and Riley Weiss and second-team guard Cecelia Collins combined for 28 points on 9-for-28 shooting.

The difference-maker for the Lions was junior forward Susie Rafiu, who had 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting and 10 rebounds for just her second career double-double. She took advantage of Penn double-teaming other players and switching screens in the front court, catching several passes in tight spaces and finishing in crowds.

“That’s what makes a great team is when you have depth and production from not necessarily the usual suspects,” Griffith said. “… To have a Susie, we’re dangerous at five positions, and I think she showed that tonight.”

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During the Penn-Columbia semifinal, the scoreboard showed tension, but the environment was relatively calm. Penn’s Quaker mascot and Columbia’s Roar-ee the Lion each sat peacefully in the first row of the stands under their baskets for much of the game.

That contrasted with the frenetic semifinal between Harvard and Princeton, when the gym felt charged with adrenaline even when Princeton led by double digits. In different ways, both games showed the competitiveness of the league, even beyond the top three teams that have stood apart from the rest all season.

The day before the semifinals, Turner was asked what the biggest key would be to beat Princeton. She rattled off without hesitation, “Defense, rebounds, effort, toughness.”

Moore looked on approvingly as her senior spoke, but as it turned out, Turner left the most crucial item off her list. It was her own offensive explosion, in one of the greatest individual performances the conference has ever seen, that dictated what March would look like for Harvard and for the Ivy League.