Bulldogs Win Seventh Straight Over Brown

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Like many games this season, when the Yale women's basketball team needed help in the fourth quarter, senior guard Whitney Wyckoff delivered – offensively and defensively.

In an otherwise sloppy game that left both teams scratching their heads for long periods, Wyckoff recorded her third double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds in Yale's 48-39 win over Brown in the Pizzitola Sports Center on Friday evening.

"Every night on the road, you have to come prepared. It's never going to be easy," said Joel E. Smilow '54 head coach Allison Guth. "We were able to fight through a lot of adversity considering we couldn't get in a flow."

With the win, the Bulldogs (11-8, 2-0 Ivy) earned their third straight season-sweep of the Bears and picked up their first road win of the season, while handing Brown its first home loss.

With the Elis leading 37-33 with just under seven minutes remaining in the game, Wyckoff took over. The Yale captain scored eight of her 14 in the final quarter, all while making two huge defensive plays to maintain the lead.

"I'm proud of the way our seniors stepped up at the end. Whitney Wyckoff was phenomenal with her relentless effort, especially in rebounding," said Guth.

With Brown's leading scorer Jordin Alexander dribbling down in transition, Wyckoff came up with a crucial block to keep Yale ahead by four. Just two minutes later, Wyckoff hit a three-pointer to extend the lead to 40-34 with 4:40 remaining.

With a four-point lead and 1:53 left, Wyckoff took a charge from Brown's Rebecca Musgrove – setting up a game-clinching three by junior guard Meghan McIntyre (Santa Rosa Valley, Calif.) on the other end to make it 45-38.

Senior forward Nyasha Sarju (Seattle, Wash.) had 11 points and seven rebounds in the win, contributing to Yale's 49-37 rebounding advantage. Junior forward Katie Werner (Phoenix, Ariz.) added seven points and seven rebounds.

Neither team shot better than 24-percent in a low-scoring first half, struggling to find the bottom of the net despite good offensive sets. With a 19-18 lead at halftime, Guth's squad knew it would take something other than offense to beat the Bears.

"You control what you can control, that's what we talked about at halftime," said Guth. "If your shots aren't falling, what can you do? It's your defensive effort, it's getting 50-50 balls…that's what it comes down to."

The first quarter produced just three combined field goals, as the Elis took a 7-2 lead into the second. It was the lowest scoring quarter of the season for Yale, but also the best defensively – holding Brown to 1-of-15 shooting.

"I think Brown is a tremendously talented offensive team, so the fact that both teams had difficulty tonight – I'd love to say it was the defense, but I'm not quite sure," said Guth.

Yale shot just 21.2-percent from the field (7-of-33) in the first half, compared to Brown's 24-percent (6-of-25). The Bulldogs outrebounded the Bears in the first two periods, 29-18, picking up where they left off in last Saturday's win (52-24 rebounding advantage).

"I think we've had uglier wins, but this one was up there," joked Wyckoff. "We didn't shoot well. We executed well, but you're going to have nights where shots don't fall. Then you have to pick up on defense."

The second half started much differently for the Bulldogs, who went on a 10-4 run to begin the third quarter. All 10 points came in the paint, as the Elis found easy shots, on their way to a 26-14 scoring edge in the paint.

Taking a 35-26 lead into the fourth quarter, Brown went on to score seven of the first nine points in the period to cut it to 37-33. Over the next two minutes, the Bulldogs clamped down on defense, allowing only one point.

It wasn't until Wyckoff's three-pointer that the lead was stretch to two possessions. Three minutes later, McIntyre hit a three to put the game away.

"I don't take it upon myself (to make plays in the fourth quarter), I just try to put ourselves in the best position to win," said Wyckoff. "If the opportunity presents itself though, I'll take it."

Alexander and forward Kennedy Martin each scored 10 points and combined for 15 rebounds in the loss for Brown.

"It's great to learn a lesson off of a win. We will have to learn a lot of things this week in a good stretch of practices to play the way we have to for the upcoming weekend," said Guth.

Yale continues its 14 Game Tournament on the road next weekend against Penn and Princeton, the top two teams in the Ivy League Preseason Poll this season. Both teams finished atop the Ivy League in 2014-15.

The Bulldogs face the Quakers on Friday at 7 p.m. and the Tigers on Saturday at 6 p.m. Both games can be seen on the Ivy League Digital Network.

Filed by Steve Lewis, Yale Sports Publicity