ITHACA, N.Y. – It was a game that seemed destined to be a defensive battle, as it featured two of the top three defenses in the Ivy League. But led by a career-high 11 assists from sophomore guard
Jenna Clark, the Yale women's basketball team had more than enough offense to beat Cornell Saturday afternoon at Newman Arena – especially with the way the Bulldog defense shined. Yale limited the Big Red to a .294 shooting percentage and enjoyed a 40-28 advantage in rebounds in a decisive 62-44 road win.
This wound up being the third time in the last six games Yale (9-6, 2-1 Ivy League) held its opponent to less than 30% shooting. The Bulldogs seized control early, jumping out to a 6-0 lead as Cornell missed its first five shots. Yale established a double-digit lead with 1:49 left in the quarter when sophomore guard
Klara Astrom hit a three to make the score 16-5.
Yale steadily built that lead until Cornell (6-8, 1-2 Ivy League) had its best spurt of the game after falling behind by 17 in the second quarter. An 8-0 Big Red run got Cornell within nine with 2:17 left in the half. But the Bulldogs eventually answered that with an 8-0 run of their own at the start of the third, and near the end of the quarter they got the lead up to 18 on a three-pointer from first-year guard/forward
Mackenzie Egger.
Yale remained in complete control in the fourth, getting the lead up to 20 on a Clark three with 9:13 to play. Cornell came in allowing only 57.5 points per game (second in the Ivy League), but the Bulldogs surpassed that mark on a jumper in the lane by senior guard/forward
Robin Gallagher with 1:38 left. An exciting and-one on a drive by first-year guard
Avery Lee made the final 62-44.
Yale came in allowing only 58.2 points per game, third in the Ivy League, and wound up having one of its best defensive performances of the season. This was the second-lowest point total of the year for a Bulldog opponent, and the third-lowest shooting percentage. Yale held Cornell's leading scorer, forward Theresa Grace Mbanefo, to six points – less than half of her average coming into the game (12.3 points per game).
Clark's 11 assists were the most in a game by an Ivy League player this season. Yale's 20 assists marked a season high for the team, the second game in a row the Bulldogs have established a new high in that category. Senior forward
Alex Cade led Yale with 14 points, adding five rebounds.
"
Alex Cade set the tone for us with her competitiveness on the glass and how she scored it on the interior," said
Allison Guth, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "We had a lot of players step up in this game."
First-year guard
Christen McCann contributed 11 points, hitting three of her five three-point attempts. Astrom finished with nine points, adding three steals. Junior forward
Camilla Emsbo had a game-high seven rebounds, adding eight points.
Yale hosts Brown Monday at 1:00 p.m.
