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
