NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale women's basketball team led Sunday's game with Syracuse at Lee Amphitheater for more than 33 minutes, building a lead of as many as 13 points. But the Orange rallied late and had the lead when it mattered, edging the Bulldogs 60-58 in the end.
Yale (4-5, 0-0 Ivy League) dazzled in the first quarter, outscoring the Orange 17-8 and holding them to a 3-for-16 shooting performance. Six different Bulldogs scored, with junior guard
Elles van der Maas leading the way with five points.
The Bulldogs scored the final eight points of the first quarter and the first two of the second, building their lead to 11. It reached 13 when a steal by sophomore guard
Nyla McGill led to a layup for junior guard
Jenna Clark at the 6:46 mark, and again when a steal by sophomore guard/forward
Mackenzie Egger led to a three-pointer from first-year guard
Kiley Capstraw at the 5:23 mark.
But Syracuse (6-2, 0-0 ACC) would start regrouping in the third, outscoring Yale 17-8. The Orange entered the fourth down by just three, 45-42.
The teams wound up separated by no more than four points for the final 8:32. Syracuse took its first lead since early in the first quarter when guard Dyaisha Fair hit a three with 4:45 to play to give the Orange a 56-54 edge. After Yale junior guard
Klara Astrom answered with a driving layup, Syracuse went back ahead on a layup by Dariauna Lewis with 2:08 left. Clark's driving layup tied the score again.
The decisive basket wound up being Lewis' layup off a Fair assist with 1:14 to play. Lewis was fouled but missed the free throw and Egger grabbed the rebound. The Bulldogs missed one shot and had another blocked. A bad pass by Fair gave them another chance with 34.7 seconds left but a trio of Yale shot attempts came up short, including one at the buzzer.
Astrom finished with a season-high 15 points and three steals to lead the Bulldogs, hitting six of her 11 shots. She was a big reason why Yale enjoyed a 27-8 advantage in bench scoring.
"It's awesome – as soon as she comes in, we know she's going to make an impact," said Clark.
Clark added 11 points and a game-high five assists. McGill had a game-high 11 rebounds and committed only one turnover.
Syracuse outscored Yale by five points in the fourth, becoming just the second team this season to outscore the Bulldogs by more than a point in the final frame.
"We got a little too tight," said
Dalila Eshe, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball." "Our approach was playing not to lose the game, instead of playing to win the game."
60 points was a season low for the Orange, who averaged more than 77 points in their first seven games.
Yale visits Quinnipiac Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.
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