ITHACA, N.Y. – Down by 16 points in the third quarter vs. Cornell Saturday, the Yale women's basketball team faced an uphill climb in Ithaca to earn an eighth straight win. The Bulldogs were up to the challenge. Jump-started by a 7-0 run, they rallied to tie the game by the end of the third and outscored the Big Red 20-13 in the fourth to come away with a 74-67 victory. Senior guard
Roxy Barahman led Yale with 26 points, including eight in the fourth quarter. Sophomore forward
Camilla Emsbo added a double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds.
After rolling past Columbia 85-60 Friday night on the first leg of the weekend road trip, the Bulldogs spent most of the game Saturday battling back from an early deficit. That made for a memorable victory.
"This win is huge because it's a road test against a team that plays with a lot of emotion," said
Allison Guth, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "We were gritty and tough. When we have a focused effort with a stop-score mentality, we can be in any game. And when we defend it enables us to create some simple offense."
After outscoring the Bulldogs 15-11 in the first, Cornell (9-7, 2-2 Ivy League) began pulling away in the second. The Big Red outscored Yale 25-15 in that frame, extending the lead to as many as 15 points. By halftime, 10 different Cornell players had scored, and three had at least eight points.
"We talked at halftime about two things," said Guth. "Aggressiveness on offense -- simplifying the playbook. And we were not being gritty on the defensive end. That's a credit to Cornell and all the screening that they do, but we did a better job levelling in the second half."
Cornell extended the lead to 16 at 9:35 of the second before a pair of baskets by Emsbo and a three-pointer by Barahman started the comeback. The Big Red called timeout following Barahman's three and extended the lead back to 11 with a basket right after that, but the Bulldogs ended the third with a 21-10 run. Emsbo's layup off an assist by senior forward
Megan Gorman tied the game 54-54 heading into the fourth.
Neither team scored for more than three minutes at the start of the fourth. Once Cornell scored to go back ahead briefly, the Bulldogs put together another 7-0 run -- this one featuring five points from Barahman and two from Emsbo. They would never trail again.
While Yale maintained the lead throughout the final 5:45, there were plenty of tense moments. Each time, the Bulldogs found the play they needed. That included a pair of three-pointers in a span of a minute by junior guard
Ellen Margaret Andrews (with 3:11 left, after Cornell cut the lead to one) and first-year guard
Klara Astrom (at 2:12, with the lead trimmed to two).
Yale (14-3, 4-0 Ivy League) outrebounded Cornell 6-0 in the final 1:23 and went 7-for-10 from the free throw line in that span to keep the Big Red at bay. Emsbo's offensive rebound with 46 seconds left and the lead at two was critical, as she drew a foul and hit a free throw to start a 5-0 Yale run that closed out the win.
Guth praised Barahman and Gorman, two senior leaders, for their roles in the win. And she also acknowledged the ongoing development of Emsbo in the paint.
"Roxy put this team on her shoulders," said Guth. "
Megan Gorman is just our glue. She's the 'X Factor' in everything we do. And Camilla was a dominant presence in the post. I want her to continue to believe in herself that way."
The Bulldogs are now 4-0 in Ivy League play for the first time since 2014. Their eight-game win streak matches the school record, set Feb. 9 through Mar. 2, 1980. They play at Harvard next Friday.
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