BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- A quick start and a furious finish earned the Yale women's basketball team a hard-fought 71-64 win vs. Fairfield Sunday afternoon at Webster Bank Arena. The Bulldogs were led by 26 points from junior forward Camilla Emsbo, who added 11 rebounds for her seventh double-double in as many games. Emsbo's jumper with 1:09 to play gave Yale the lead for the first time since midway through the second quarter, and the Bulldogs kept rolling from there. They finished on a 16-2 run that clinched the victory.
 
"I'm really proud of our team's fight," said Allison Guth, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "After letting up on our defensive game plan in the second quarter, we made the adjustments to play harder, tougher and smarter."
 
Yale's hot shooting from the previous game, a 57-51 win at BU Wednesday, carried over into the first quarter Sunday. The Bulldogs shot 9-for-11 from the field, racing out to a 22-10 advantage entering the second. Sophomore guard Klara Astrom hit her first three three-point attempts, including two in the first and one in the second.
 
Fairfield (3-3, 0-0 MAAC) bounced back with some hot shooting of its own in the second quarter, hitting 11 of 14 shots -- including a 6-for-8 performance from three-point territory. That was enough to give the Stags a 40-33 lead at halftime. Fairfield had a 16-2 advantage in points off turnovers at that point; the Bulldogs had turned the ball over nine times.
 
Yale (5-2, 0-0 Ivy League) tightened things up defensively in the third, holding the Stags scoreless for nearly five minutes while going on a 7-0 run that cut into the deficit. First-year guard Christen McCann's three-pointer with 40 seconds left sent the Bulldogs into the fourth quarter trailing just 54-51. They had trailed by as many as 10 earlier in the quarter.
 
The Bulldogs kept chipping away at the lead throughout the fourth quarter, and eventually tied the score 64-64 on an Emsbo layup with 1:27 to play. They then went ahead when Emsbo's turnaround jumper capped a sequence of five quick passes, the last one coming from Astrom.
 
"We felt we needed a possession in which we tried to seal both sides of that zone, getting our post touches," said Guth. "We executed that play really, really well."
 
Yale's defense kept the lead intact, holding Fairfield to an 0-for-4 performance with a turnover in the final 52 seconds. Two free throws by Astrom and three by senior forward Alex Cade helped salt away the victory. 
 
Emsbo's 26 points tied her season high. Astrom finished with 14 points and Cade finished with 11. Sophomore guard Jenna Clark added nine points and eight assists. After turning the ball over nine times in the first half, the Bulldogs committed just five turnovers in the second half.
 
"We just knew we had to clean it up," said Guth. "It was post feeds and it was footwork issues."
 
In addition to scoring 11 points, Cade had nine rebounds and was +15 for the game, matching Clark for the best +/- on the team. Emsbo was +6.
 
"I'm really happy with our bigs," said Guth. "From start to finish, Mills [Emsbo] had a tremendous game. Alex Cade stepped up in the third quarter when we needed it, being aggressive and dominant."
 
Yale plays at Quinnipiac Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.
 
 

?? Here is Camilla Emsbo's turnaround jumper that gave us the lead with 1:09 left in today's 71-64 win at Fairfield! Mills had 26 points and 11 rebounds. #ThisIsYale pic.twitter.com/FUAQ6euv6B

— Yale Women's Basketball (@YaleWBasketball) November 29, 2021