NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale women's basketball team's 3-0 start to the season had included three wins which came down to the wire -- two were won in overtime and in the third Yale's lead was only three with 14 seconds left before the Bulldogs pulled away to win by seven. So when Friday's game at Lee Amphitheater against Maine saw Yale get within three of the Black Bears with 43 seconds to play, it seemed like the Bulldogs were positioned to nab a fourth win in thrilling fashion. But it was not meant to be, as a pair of missed Yale threes in the final minute enabled Maine to hang on for a 47-44 win.
Maine (1-3, 0-0 America East) had struggled to start this season but was 17-3 last year. The Black Bears hung tough throughout the first three quarters, unfazed by an early 13-6 Yale lead that included five points from junior forward
Camilla Emsbo. The Bulldogs got their lead as high as eight twice in the second quarter -- the second time when first-year forward
Grace Thybulle pulled down an offensive rebound and laid in the first points from the field of her career.
Yale (3-1, 0-0 Ivy League) was hurt by shooting just 2-for-9 in the fourth as a three-point lead to start the quarter slipped away. Just over a minute in, Maine took the lead for the first time since the first quarter.
"I thought Maine did a great job preparing for us," said
Allison Guth, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "They were hungry for a win, and their players really competed for 40 minutes."
A jumper by sophomore guard
Jenna Clark enabled Yale to take the lead back, 40-39 with 7:41 to play. After a Maine layup, an Emsbo jumper put Yale ahead 42-41 with 4:52 left. But a pair of Maine threes sandwiched around a Yale turnover put the Black Bears in command, 47-42. A pair of free throws by sophomore guard
Klara Astrom got Yale within three with 43 seconds to play, but two late misses from three-point territory sealed the Bulldogs' fate.
After committing only nine turnovers in Wednesday's 60-53 win at Sacred Heart, Yale had 15 Friday.
"We're disappointed by our lack of execution at both ends of the floor," said Guth. "We've got to go back to the drawing board. This is not who we are -- not our identity."
Emsbo finished with her fourth double-double of the season, 14 points and 11 rebounds. Clark added nine points and Astrom eight along with five steals.
In addition to being Yale's first loss at home since Feb. 22, 2020 (74-65 vs. Columbia), this was Yale's first non-league loss since Dec. 6, 2019 (80-66 vs. St. John's) -- snapping a seven-game non-league winning streak. The Bulldogs visit the Red Storm Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
