Box Score Bulldogs Win Third Straight At Home
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – In what turned out to be an outstanding 24-hour period for Bulldog basketball, senior guard Sarah Halejian scored nine of her 19 points in the final 1:42 of regulation, helping the Yale women's team to a 66-59 victory over Boston University on Saturday afternoon.
One day after the Yale men's team won a historic, buzzer-beating game against No. 23 Connecticut at Gampel Pavilion, the women's team followed suit with a win of its own against the second of three Patriot League opponents it will face in 2014-15.
After Tuesday's victory over Monmouth, which was due in large part to clutch play by freshman guard Tamara Simpson (North Babylon, N.Y.), the Bulldogs received another big-time performance in the waning seconds. This time, it was the senior captain who answered the bell.
With 2:12 remaining in regulation, a layup by sophomore forward Katie Werner (Phoenix, Ariz.) tied the game for the Bulldogs. Shortly after, Halejian took over.
After a steal by junior forward Meredith Boardman (Oak Park, Ill.), Halejian drove down the floor and hit a floater in the lane, while also drawing a foul on BU's Sarah Hope. The senior guard converted on the free throw, giving the Elis a three-point edge.
Following a Terriers' miss on the other end, Halejian calmly came down and sunk a lengthy jumper to stretch the lead to five with 57 seconds remaining.
In the final minute of regulation, Halejian would make 4-of-6 free throws to put the game out of reach for the Terriers, earning the Bulldogs their second consecutive win and their first winning streak of the season.
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 24-12 lead in the first 12 minutes of the game, made possible by an 18-6 run over a six-minute period. Eight different players scored for Yale in that time.
A 9-0 run by the Terriers cut the lead to three after three-pointers by Clodagh Scanell and Sarah Hope. Jump shots by Werner and junior guard Whitney Wyckoff (West Chester, Ohio) expanded the Bulldog lead to 30-23 at halftime.
Coming out in the second, Yale maintained its lead for the majority of the half until consecutive layups by BU's Mollie McKendrick put the Terriers up by one with 3:40 left in the game.
Facing a three-point deficit, junior guard Nyasha Sarju (Seattle, Wash.) hit the first big shot for the Bulldogs in the form of a near straight-away three pointer to tie the game at 54. From there, Yale would finish the game on a 12-5 run, with nine of those points coming from Halejian.
The senior guard finished with a season-best 19 points and in the process, continued to sketch her name into the record books. Now with 1,160 career points, Halejian passed former teammate Janna Graf for 12th place on the Yale women's basketball all-time scoring list.
Wyckoff finished with a season-high 11 points, while Werner came just short of a double-double, scoring nine with 10 rebounds. Boardman grabbed nine boards of her own and Simpson snagged a game-high three steals.
Meghan Green and Clodagh Scanell both scored 16 for Boston University.
Yale entered the game averaging 17.2 offensive rebounds per game, an Ivy-League best, which resulted in 13.2 second-chance points per contest. The offensive rebounding effort remained impressive, as 15 of the Bulldogs' 40 total rebounds came on the offensive end.
The Bulldogs out-shot the Terriers, 69-50, in the game, which was a result of more second-chance possessions. While Boston University made 48-percent (24-of-50) of its shots from the field, Yale shot only 36-percent (25-of-69), but still pulled out the win due to the offensive rebounding difference.
Yale also took care of the ball against Boston University's scrappy defense. For the second straight game, the Bulldogs turned the ball over a season-low nine times, while the Terriers lost possession on 21 occasions.
Riding a two-game winning streak, the Yale women's team will travel to play UMass-Lowell on Monday at 7 p.m. in the final game before a nine-day break for final exams.
Filed by Steve Lewis, Yale Sports Publicity Assistant
