NEW HAVEN, Conn. – With Ivy League play set to begin Sunday, the Yale women's basketball team sits atop the league in a key category: scoring defense. After a decisive 68-50 win vs. Army West Point at Lee Amphitheater Tuesday night to wrap up the non-conference part of the schedule, the Bulldogs are allowing just 56.4 points per game – at least a point better than every team in the league. Tuesday's win was also highlighted by an offensive performance that included three players scoring in double digits, led by a career-high 20 points from sophomore guard
Jenna Clark.
"Going into Ivy play, it's great to be able to test out all the effort we've been putting into practice," said
Allison Guth, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "We just had six practices that were really detailed and had great energy. We have a little better identity at both ends of the floor."
The Bulldogs had played just one game in the previous 19 days, but were far from rusty. They shot a blistering .484 in the first half in opening up a 39-31 lead. Three players reached double-digits in scoring by halftime, with Clark leading the way (14 points). Each team made three three-pointers, but the difference was Yale needed just seven attempts to reach that mark while Army needed 16.
Yale (7-5, 0-0 Ivy League) put the clamps on Army in the third quarter, limiting the Golden Knights to seven points and extending the lead to 16 points.
"We had better gap coverage and more disciplined closeouts," said Guth. "We also had better movement as a unit, playing together."
Guth also pointed to a pair of assists by first-year forward
Grace Thybulle, setting up junior forward
Camilla Emsbo for the first two baskets of the second half, as helping to set the tone. Thybulle earned her first career start Tuesday night.
"Grace has absolutely bought in and trusts the process," said Guth. "She's been playing fantastic in practice. We wanted to switch things up, and try having [senior forward
Alex] Cade's motor and energy come off the bench – she's the heart of this team, and did a tremendous job off the bench."
Critical to Yale's defensive performance was first-year guard
Christen McCann, who took on Army guard Alisa Fallon and held her scoreless in the second half after Fallon scored 20 in the first half.
"It's her competitiveness and toughness," Guth said in reference to what made McCann so successful. "She did a tremendous job with her closeouts, and getting that kid to go east-west instead of north-south."
Leading 54-38 heading into the fourth, the Bulldogs kept Army (5-4, 0-0 Patriot League) from getting any closer than 13 the rest of the way. Clark's layup with 3:24 left got her to the 20 point plateau. She also had eight assists and three steals.
Sophomore guard
Klara Astrom finished with 19 points, tying her career high while shooting .545. Emsbo had 18 points and 12 rebounds, her eighth double-double of the year. She also had a career-high six blocks.
Yale starts Ivy League play Sunday at Columbia at 1:00 p.m.
