March 7, 2008
NEW HAVEN, Conn.--The Yale women's basketball team fought back from 11 points down in the second half to force a 48-48 tie, but Dartmouth (13-14, 10-3 Ivy) responded with a 14-0 run to capture a 62-52 victory over the Bulldogs (8-18, 6-7 Ivy) Friday night at the John J. Lee Amphitheater. With the win, Dartmouth kept alive its hopes to claim a share of the Ivy League championship. Dartmouth needs to defeat Brown and have the Bulldogs knock off Harvard on Saturday to force a tie.
"We played hard," Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach Chris Gobrecht said. "And other than too many turnovers, we played well. But we didn't play well enough to beat a team that good."
Dartmouth scored the first nine points of the game and led 11-2 just 6:19 in. The Bulldogs slowly chipped away, cutting the deficit to two at 15-13 with 6:44 remaining in the half. Koren Schram scored five straight points to bring the Big Green's lead back to six at 21-15, but, thanks to 15 Dartmouth turnovers, Yale hung around. The Bulldogs shot just 29.6 percent (8-of-27) from the field in the first half, compared to 50 percent (10-of-20) for the Big Green, but only trailed 31-25 at halftime.
The Big Green increased their lead to 35-25 early in the second half before the Bulldogs went on a 10-5 run, capped by a Haywood Wright three-pointer, to make it 40-35 with 15:17 remaining. Dartmouth responded with a 6-0 run of its own to open up a 46-35 advantage with 12:28 to play. A Yoyo Greenfield trey at the 11:47 mark ignited a 13-2 Yale run that tied the game at 48-48 with 8:05 left.
After a Dartmouth timeout, Brittney Smith's layup put the Big Green back in front, 50-48. That layup started Dartmouth's 14-0 run that made the score 62-48 with 4:17 to go. A Mady Gobrecht layup finally got Yale back on the scoreboard, stopping a 4:42 scoring drought, but another comeback was not to be. The Bulldogs scored just four points in the final 8:05, during which they were outscored 14-4. Dartmouth didn't score over the last 4:17, but held on for the 62-52 victory, its fifth straight win.
Gobrecht paced the Bulldogs with her first career double-double. Gobrecht tallied a career-high 14 points and tied a career-high with 10 rebounds. She added six assists and two steals. Lindsey Williams had 11 points and six boards, while Wright notched seven points, eight rebounds and three blocks off the bench. Ashley Carter posted nine points and a career-high four steals. The Bulldogs shot 32.7 percent (18-of-55) from the field, including 27.3 percent (3-of-11) from three-point range, and 81.3 percent (13-of-16) from the line. Yale outrebounded Dartmouth 36-34.
Schram had 20 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Big Green. Betsy Williams added 16 points and three assists, while Brittney Smith notched 11 points and four steals. Sydney Scott and Margaret Smith each grabbed six rebounds for Dartmouth. As a team, the Big Green shot 46.5 percent (20-of-43) from the field and 50 percent (4-of-8) from three-point range. Dartmouth shot 60 percent (18-of-30) from the charity stripe.
The Bulldogs conclude the 2007-08 season by hosting Harvard (18-9, 11-2 Ivy) on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Crimson clinched at least a share of the Ivy League title with a 68-47 victory at Brown on Friday, and will win the championship outright by defeating the Bulldogs. Captain Stephanie Marciano, the team's only senior, will be honored prior to the game.
NOTES: Dartmouth has won three straight against Yale and leads the all-time series 47-15...Gobrecht led the team in scoring for the first time in her career...Gobrecht's double-double was just Yale's third this season and the first since Williams had 11 points and 12 rebounds against Holy Cross on Jan. 6...Melissa Colborne scored a season-low four points, ending her streak of consecutive 20-point games at four...Greenfield played for the first time since suffering an ankle injury on Jan. 26 and tallied three points in 11 minutes...Cornell defeated Penn 73-58 to remain tied with Dartmouth for second place...If Yale beats Harvard and Cornell and Dartmouth both win on Saturday, there will be a three-way tie for the Ivy championship at 11-3.
Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity