NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Playing for the seventh time in 16 days, the Yale women's basketball team found itself locked in a tight battle late in the game with St. John's Friday night at Lee Amphitheater. After trailing by as many as 11 early in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs cut the Red Storm lead to four by sinking four clutch free throws with 2:40 to play -- and they had the ball. But after Yale missed an opportunity to cut the deficit down to two, St. John's reeled off 12 straight points and went on to finish with an 80-66 win.
Yale (6-3, 0-0 Ivy League) was coming off the completion of an 82-79 win vs. Providence Tuesday at Lee, playing the second half of a game that had started on Nov. 5 before being suspended due to a scoreboard malfunction. Prior to Tuesday the Bulldogs had been in California for a week, playing three games. That was the end of a stretch of six straight games on the road.
"We've had a long stretch here, we've been in the East, we've been in the West," said
Allison Guth, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "We haven't had any days off. We had two great days of practice [after playing Providence Tuesday] and we wanted that to translate to today. But the things that we could control, we didn't control."
St. John's (5-3, 0-0 Big East) shot nearly 48% from the field, putting up 22 points in each quarter except the second (14). The Red Storm built a lead as big as 13 in the first half, but the Bulldogs ended it on a run -- including a buzzer-beating layup from sophomore forward
Camilla Emsbo, who finished with 20 points. Yale trailed just 36-32 at the break.
Yale got within one twice in the third quarter -- once after an early three-pointer by junior guard
Tori Andrew and once after a layup by junior guard
Ellen Margaret Andrews (16 points). Those two then combined to hit four critical free throws after a foul and a technical foul on St. John's with 2:40 left in the game. But with its lead cut to 68-64, St. John's responded with a decisive run to hand Yale just its second loss since Nov. 16.
Yale was hurt by 15 turnovers. St. John's wound up with five players scoring in double digits.
"I was disappointed in our lack of valuing the possession," said Guth. "We caught a team that shot 48 percent from the field. We've got to focus on how we deter teams defensively."
Andrew led Yale with four assists, while Andrews, Emsbo and senior guard
Roxy Barahman each had a team-best seven rebounds.
The Bulldogs return to action Dec. 19, hosting Sacred Heart at 12:00 p.m.
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