Feb. 9, 2008
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Poor shooting is not the recipe for winning on the road. The Yale women's basketball team learned that on Friday night at Lavietes Pavilion. Yale (5-13, 3-2 Ivy) shot just 27.8 percent (15-of-54) from the field and 19.2 percent (5-of-26) from three-point range in a 65-55 loss to Harvard (11-8, 4-1 Ivy) in front of a near-capacity crowd of 1,202. It was Harvard's fourth straight win and Yale's second straight defeat. With the loss, the Bulldogs slipped a game behind the Crimson in the Ivy League standings.
The Bulldogs started off well, taking a 3-2 lead on Jamie Van Horne's trey on their first possession, but went cold immediately thereafter. Yale missed its next five shots and nine of its next 10. However, the Bulldogs managed to get to the line and made their free throws, and held a 9-6 lead when Haywood Wright's jumper temporarily ended the shooting slump at the 12:27 mark. Harvard responded with a 6-0 run to take a lead it would not relinquish.
Yale trimmed Harvard's lead to one at 14-13 on a Melissa Colborne layup and a pair of Stephanie Marciano free throws, but a 10-0 Crimson run over the next four minutes gave Harvard a 24-13 lead with 5:41 left in the half. The Crimson's advantage reached a game-high 12 points at 30-18 before Van Horne drained a three-pointer with 57 seconds remaining to cut Yale's deficit to nine at intermission. Despite shooting just 20.8 percent (5-of-24) in the first half, the Bulldogs trailed only 30-21 at the break. Harvard, meanwhile, shot 51.9 percent (14-of-27) from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
Fortunately for the Bulldogs, their shooting woes didn't carry over into the second half. Yale opened the period with a 7-2 spurt and cut Harvard's lead to 32-28 on a Van Horne trey with 17:49 remaining. Harvard had an answer, however, going on a 10-4 run over the next 6:15 to bring the lead back to double-digits at 42-32. Yale charged back again, scoring the next five points to make it 42-37 with 9:13 left. That would be as close as the Bulldogs would get, however. Niki Finelli's three-pointer with 4:27 remaining brought Harvard's lead back to 10 at 55-45. Lindsey Williams responded with a trey on the other end, but the Crimson made eight straight free throws down the stretch to secure a 65-55 final margin.
Colborne led the Bulldogs with 13 points and added five rebounds. Wright chipped in 12 points and pulled down a team-high seven boards. Van Horne tallied 11 points. Williams had eight points, five rebounds and two steals, while Mady Gobrecht dished out a team-high three assists. The Bulldogs shot 80 percent (20-of-25) at the free throw line.
Emma Markley posted a game-high 14 points on 7-for-12 shooting for Harvard. She added six rebounds, as the Crimson outrebounded the Bulldogs 40-28. Emily Tay, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week, finished just shy of a triple-double with 12 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. She also had five steals. Katie Rollins tallied 11 points to go along with seven boards. The Crimson shot 48 percent (24-of-50) from the field, including 40 percent (2-of-5) from three-point range, and 71.4 percent (15-of-21) from the charity stripe.
The Bulldogs conclude their four-game road trip in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, when they visit Dartmouth for a 7 p.m. contest. The Big Green (7-12, 4-1 Ivy) defeated Brown 61-49 on Friday night to remain tied for first place with Harvard and Cornell (12-6, 4-1 Ivy). Both teams will "Think Pink" on Saturday night as a part of the WBCA's breast cancer awareness initiative.
NOTES: Harvard now leads the all-time series 37-26 and has won the last seven meetings in Cambridge...The Bulldogs attempted at least 20 three-pointers for the 10th time this season...Yale shot below 30 percent from the field for the fifth time this season and slipped to 1-4 in those games...Wright is averaging 12.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocks on the Bulldogs' current road trip...It was Yale's third trip to the Boston area in 26 days after facing Boston College and Massachusetts in non-conference action.
Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity
