PRINCETON, N.J. – Facing the top defense in the nation, the Yale women's basketball team knew that points would be at a premium Saturday evening at No. 21/23 Princeton. And while the Bulldogs were able to hold the Tigers to their second-lowest point total of the last eight games, ultimately they could not generate enough offense to come away with the win. The Tigers created early separation with a 13-3 second quarter, then held off Yale for a 64-49 victory.
Yale (17-8, 7-5 Ivy League) arrived at Jadwin at an inopportune time -- the Tigers had just clinched the Ivy League title and the No. 1 seed in the Ivy League Tournament the night before, and were celebrating their seniors Saturday. That included forwards Taylor Baur and Bella Alarie, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year and a projected top 12 pick in the WNBA Draft. With those two leading the way, the Tigers just needed one win to finished off the home portion of the regular season unbeaten and gleefully cut down the nets at Jadwin. They also had a 19 game winning streak to extend.
The Bulldogs did not let the celebration happen easily, though. Yale opened with a 10-1 run before the media timeout of the first. Princeton then answered with a run of its own, sending the game into the second quarter tied 14-14.
That quarter proved to be Yale's undoing, as the Bulldogs made just one of 15 shots. They had a 19-18 lead after a free throw by senior forward
Megan Gorman at 4:57, but Princeton scored the final nine points of that quarter and the first four points of the third quarter.
Facing a 12 point deficit, the Bulldogs cut it to eight on a layup by sophomore forward
Camila Emsbo at 5:51 of the third. But Princeton (24-1, 12-0 Ivy League) answered with a 9-2 run, and the Bulldogs never got the deficit below double digits after that.
Senior guard
Roxy Barahman led Yale with 14 points, while junior guard
Ellen Margaret Andrews added 11 and junior forward
Alex Cade chipped in 10 off the bench. Gorman had a team-high seven rebounds, and Emsbo had five blocks.
Following a trophy presentation at the end of the game Princeton cut down the nets, but the Bulldogs got some good news of their own. A loss by fifth-place Harvard moved Yale to within one win of clinching one of the four spots in the Ivy League Tournament. The Bulldogs, currently in fourth place and one game behind second-place Columbia and Penn, host Dartmouth next Friday.
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