“It’s surprising because UMass is more talented than some teams that we’ve lost to,” Delany-Smith said. “They have two forwards who are terrific and some guards who can really shoot the lights out. We locked them down. It wasn’t a one-on-one thing, it was an complete team effort.”

The Crimson defense held its opponent to under 50 points for the first time this season. Harvard tallied nine steals in the game, including three from Berry, and forced the Minutewomen to shoot 2-of-21 from behind the arc.

“As a team, we came in really focused on [UMass’] tendencies and what we had to do in order to have success,” Clark said. “Our defense was key.”

“Defense. Everything about [Tuesday’s] game was defense,” Delany-Smith added.

—Staff writer Dominic Martinez can be reached at dmartinez@college.harvard.edu.