NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Eight weeks ago when Ivy League play started it was hard to imagine exactly what Senior Day on Feb. 26 would look like for the Yale women's basketball team. The Bulldogs, picked for fourth in the preseason poll, lost their first Ivy game at Columbia Jan. 2, so earning one of the four spots in the Ivy League Tournament was far from assured. Amidst the backdrop of the pandemic in those first few weeks of 2022, many games throughout the league were postponed or played in front of empty stands. But on Saturday at Lee Amphitheater Yale got to experience the ultimate storybook Senior Day ending, as the Bulldogs clinched a spot in the Ivy Tournament in front of a raucous crowd. The 56-40 victory over Cornell saw contributions from all three of Yale's seniors – forward
Alex Cade, guard/forward
Robin Gallagher and guard
Roxanne Nesbitt, the team's captain.
All three seniors earned starts on Saturday, but more importantly they also were out there on the court in the fourth quarter as Yale closed in on the win that would book the Bulldogs a trip to Harvard's Lavietes Pavilion for the Ivy League semifinals Mar. 11. Cade was already out on the court when Gallagher and Nesbitt subbed in with four minutes left and Yale up by 21. The Bulldogs had built that lead by combining suffocating defense – they held Cornell to .261 shooting for the game – with timely offense, including a 12-2 run in the third quarter that established a comfortable 18 point lead.
First-year guard
Christen McCann helped build that lead, and she finished with a team-high 14 points. Sophomore guard
Jenna Clark added 10 points and had six of the team's 19 assists. And while those two are big parts of the present and the future for the Yale program, Saturday's game was all about the seniors.
Cade (five points, six rebounds) and Gallagher (four points, three rebounds) had already made it into the scoring column by the time the game reached its final minutes, so when Nesbitt hit a free throw with 1:39 left for her first point it provided the signature moment for the class. All three of them subbed out shortly after that to a standing ovation.
"It's so special for a coaching staff to get to honor those kids and recognize all of the sweat equity they have put into the program," said
Allison Guth, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "Kudos to those kids, and to the team for getting us in a position to do that."
Guth was quick to point to all that Cade, Gallagher and Nesbitt do off the court as a huge part of what they have meant to the Yale program. In addition to taking on challenging majors – mechanical engineering for Cade; molecular, cellular and developmental biology for Gallagher; and economics and mathematics for Nesbitt – they have also been heavily involved in community service as part of the team's emphasis on social responsibility. Nesbitt has been a member of the Yale Undergraduate Prison Program, advocating for people effected by the criminal justice system. Gallagher has been involved with Mothers Against Drunk Driving and has worked with children with special needs. Cade has been a part of SNUGS, Special Needs Undergraduate Swimming lessons.
The group has also been a part of a great run on the court, including a school record-tying 19 wins in 2019-20.
"They are a group of women who are all committed to the team and being a great teammate," said Guth. "They put team above self, and that's why we are having the success we are having."
The crowd of more than 400 included the seniors' families along with members of the extended Bulldogs family: the team's alums. Their presence did not go unnoticed.
"The alums represent everything in terms of our 'why' as a coaching staff," said Guth. "They helped build this."
Yale has now earned a spot in the Ivy League tournament for the third time in the last four Ivy seasons. First, though, the Bulldogs will conclude the regular season next Saturday at Brown. The team is currently 8-5 in the Ivy League, and nine Ivy wins would tie for the third-most in program history.
