CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A hot-shooting Columbia team, the No. 2 seed in the Ivy League Tournament, grabbed an early lead against the No. 3 seeded Yale women's basketball team and never let up Friday night in the semifinals at Harvard's Lavietes Pavilion. After falling behind 22-5 after the first quarter, the Bulldogs spent the rest of the night playing catch-up before ultimately falling to the Lions 67-38. Junior forward
Camilla Emsbo and first-year guard
Mackenzie Egger tied for the team lead in points with nine, while Emsbo had a game-high 15 rebounds.
Yale (16-11, 9-5 Ivy League) had won three of its last four games of the regular season, and had come within minutes of beating the Lions when the teams met in New Haven less than a month ago. But Columbia (22-5, 12-2 Ivy League) established control of Friday's game early, scoring the first 10 points – with four of those five baskets coming on fast breaks.
"We just didn't execute our game plan," said Emsbo. "In our pregame presser we talked about transition being the main thing that we needed to focus on, and that was the story of the game tonight. They ran in transition and we didn't do anything to stop them."
A jumper by senior guard/forward
Robin Gallagher at 4:27 of the first got Yale on the scoreboard, but Columbia then reeled off eight straight points – this time with six of the eight coming on three-pointers by guard Abbey Hsu.
Columbia outscored Yale 17-10 in the second quarter to take a 39-15 lead into halftime. At that point the Lions were shooting .531 (17-for-32). The Bulldogs were able to cool them off in the second half, limiting Columbia to .370 (10-for-27) shooting in the game's final 20 minutes, but by then the deficit had grown too big.
Yale was able to pay tribute to its seniors – Gallagher, forward
Alex Cade and guard
Roxanne Nesbitt – by giving them each a moment to sub out to applause in the fourth quarter. Cade finished with eight points and seven rebounds.
That group of seniors has been a part of many memorable accomplishments in recent years, including a school record-tying 19 wins in 2019-20. The team's 16 wins this season is tied for fourth-most in school history. Yale's regular season total of nine Ivy wins this season was tied for third-most in school history, one away from the school record.
The seniors were first and foremost on the mind of
Allison Guth, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball, in the post-game press conference.
"I just want to congratulate our seniors," said Guth. "The one sitting to the left here [Cade] – you want to talk about character, being down 25 points and still being the first to the floor … [grabbing] every rebound she could get her hands on. Seniors
Robin Gallagher and our captain
Roxanne Nesbitt, they've taken our program to new heights over the course of their careers here."
Emsbo, named a unanimous first team All-Ivy League pick earlier in the week, put Friday's loss in perspective.
"It's great to come here; it means a lot to our program," said Emsbo. "But our ultimate goal wasn't just to show up. I know that we're all disappointed … But it is a huge step for our program to make it back here. It is a stepping stone for us, but definitely not something to be satisfied with at all."
Columbia will face the No. 1 seed, Princeton, in the Ivy League Tournament Championship Saturday night with the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament on the line.
