NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A rough stretch in the third quarter proved too much for the Yale women's basketball team to overcome Saturday afternoon against Harvard in the Ivy League opener at Lee Amphitheater. The Bulldogs entered the third trailing just 24-18, but the Crimson went on a 20-0 run that changed the complexion of the game. Yale wound up outscoring Harvard 20-12 in the fourth, but the Crimson still came away with a decisive 61-43 win.
After a scoreless drought of 2:35 for both teams to open the game Yale (1-13, 0-1 Ivy League) eventually grabbed a 5-4 lead, but Harvard answered with seven straight points. The Bulldogs got within three late in the first quarter and within two early in the second but would get no closer. A 25-5 third quarter scoring advantage for Harvard (12-1, 1-0 Ivy League) put the Crimson in control.
Harvard was led by 16 points from forward Katie Krupa.
STATISTICAL LEADERS
KEY STAT
- Harvard had a 31-8 advantage in points off turnovers.
NOTES
- First-year guard Ke'iara Odume's eight rebounds were a career high. Her previous best was six. Nineteen of her 43 rebounds for the season have come in the last three games.
- Four of the seven Bulldogs who played in the game are first years – Chapman, Odume, guard Ciniya Moore and guard Magdalena Schmidt.
- Yale limited Harvard to .265 shooting in the first half.
- Yale had four players play 32 minutes or more, and two of them were first years – Chapman and Odume. Capstraw and Egger were the others.
QUOTING DALILA ESHE, YALE'S JOEL E. SMILOW, CLASS OF 1954 HEAD COACH OF WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
- On outscoring Harvard 38-36 in the first, second and fourth quarters combined: "Harvard is obviously a very good defensive team. Our team came in confident, focused on small goals and areas we could win."
- On Odume: "She is fun to watch. She's slowly starting to figure it out and gain more confidence. She has had two solid weeks of practice. She's really good defensively, so we had her on Harmoni [Turner, Harvard's leading scorer, who was held to 14 points after averaging more than 20 per game through the first 12 games]."
- On the team's approach in the fourth quarter: "We wound up running our scramble offense, turned them over… I loved our fight at the end, I loved our aggression. We talked about finding those moments, finding their confidence. We ran our five-out offense."
- On the team's mentality after the game: "We left today and they were in a positive space. They know they're growing."
AROUND THE IVY LEAGUE
- Columbia 74, Penn 59
- Dartmouth 64, Brown 48
- Princeton 72, Cornell 39
WHAT'S NEXT
- Yale visits Brown next Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
