MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Yale women’s basketball team led host Kansas State by as many as 10 points on Saturday afternoon, looking for its first-ever win against a Big 12 team. However, despite a career-best 18 points from freshman Megan Vasquez, the Wildcats hot shooting got the best of the Bulldogs as 12 Kansas State three pointers propelled the home team to a 78-59 victory.

The Bulldogs fall to 4-7 in defeat. Kansas State, NCAA Tournament participants in each of the last two seasons, improves to 8-6 with the win.

“Kansas State isn’t 20 points better than us”, said Chris Gobrecht, the Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women’s Basketball at Yale. “We could have played better. We have a lot of freshmen and some players just getting back into the lineup, and we are still improving. We’ll be ready for Ivy League play.”

Vasquez’s 18 points came on 6-for-12 shooting from the floor, including a 3-for-7 day from beyond the three-point arc. The freshman shared the game high in scoring with the Wildcats’ Ashley Sweat, a 2008-09 All-Big 12 first team honoree. Junior Yoyo Greenfield also reached double figures with 15 points for the Bulldogs. Junior Mady Gobrecht tallied eight points, freshman Ericka von Kaeppler netted five. Sophomore Michelle Cashen had four points, senior Melissa Colborne had three, senior Haywood Wright had two and freshman Alicia Seelaus rounded out the scoring with one point. Cashen led the way on the glass with six rebounds.

As a team, Yale shot 37.9% from the field, 30% from three-point range and 60% from the foul line. The Wildcats went 50.8% from the floor, 46.2% from beyond the arc and 80% at the charity stripe.

The Bulldogs came out firing, hitting six straight field goals en route to claiming a 12-3 advantage over the first five minutes of the contest. Yale would lead by as many as 10 points in the early stages before Kansas State came all the back to claim a 22-21 lead. A Vasquez triple promptly gave the lead back to the Bulldogs, which they would hold for most of the half. Yale went scoreless over the final 3:16 of the frame however, as the home team grabbed a 34-28 edge entering the intermission.

Vasquez led Yale with eight points in the first half. Cashen paced the Bulldogs on the glass with four first-half boards, and Colborne led the way in assists with three. Sweat led all players with 12 points prior to the intermission. As a team, Yale shot 40% (12-for-30) from the field, 20% (2-for-10) from three-point range and 50% (2-for-4) from the free throw line. The Wildcats also went 40% (14-for-35) from the field while shooting 33% (5-for-15) from beyond the arc and 1-for-1 from the charity stripe.

Yale’s scoring drought continued until the16:58 mark in the second half, by which point Kansas State had opened up a 43-31 lead. Yale would eventually find its stroke, putting together a 10-2 to climb to within six points at 53-47 and force a Wildcats’ timeout with 8:42 remaining in the game. While the Bulldogs’ offense began to hit its stride, the Kansas State offense stayed red hot, shooting 65.4% (17-for-26) from the field and a scorching 63.6% (7-for-11) from beyond the arc in the second half. When the final horn sounded, despite 11 second-half points from Greenfield and 10 from Vasquez, the Wildcats claimed a 78-59 victory.

Kansas State edged Yale in turnovers, 17-16, and had a slight advantage on the glass, 36-34. The Wildcats got double-figure points from Sweat, Brittany Chambers and Taelor Karr, who hit five three-pointers in the second half.

The Bulldogs will close out their Midwest swing on Monday at Colorado. Tip-off from the Coors Event Center in Boulder is slated for 9 p.m. EST.

report filed by Drew M. Kingsley, Yale Sports Publicity