NEW HAVEN, Conn. – As Ivy League play heats up, the Yale women's basketball team appears to be developing the scoring depth needed for the battles ahead. Three players scored at least 14 points each – including two who had season highs – in a 68-56 win vs. Cornell Saturday afternoon at Lee Amphitheater. All told, nine different players scored.
For some perspective on the scoring depth Yale showed Saturday: the Bulldogs' two leading scorers entering the day, junior guard
Jenna Clark and first-year guard
Kiley Capstraw, had averaged a combined 23 points through the first 16 games. On Saturday they combined for seven – and yet Yale still came within five points of its season high in scoring (73 vs. New Mexico State Nov. 25).
"This was a heck of a job from the entire team," said
Dalila Eshe, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "We had other players step up when our leading scorers were off. That shows how good we can be collectively as a team, and the depth we have off the bench."
Junior guard
Klara Astrom and sophomore guard
Nyla McGill tied for the team lead with a game-high 17 points.
Astrom has now reached double digits in points in three straight games, with 40 of her 113 points for the season (35 percent) coming in that span. The 17 points she scored Saturday represented her most in a game since scoring 19 against Army Dec. 28, 2021.
McGill has been a consistent force defensively and on the boards all year; she entered Saturday second in the Ivy League in rebounding and third in steals. In the last two games, when the Bulldogs needed it, she has also showcased her offensive skills. Saturday's 17 point game came on the heels of her 18 point effort in Yale's previous game, a 71-70 overtime win at Harvard.
Meanwhile sophomore guard
Christen McCann, who scored 14 Saturday, is shaping up to be a sort of belated holiday gift for a Bulldogs squad that has been beset by injuries. A preseason injury wound up costing her the first 12 games, putting her on the bench alongside senior forward
Camilla Emsbo (out for the year) – two starters who combined to average nearly 22 points a game last year.
"It was great to get Chris back," said Eshe. "She absolutely would have been a starting guard for us at the start of the year if she had not gotten injured. Now, she's going through her own preseason."
That included a brief appearance in the Bulldogs' final nonconference game, Dec. 21 against Lehigh, and two appearances totaling 51 minutes across Yale's three games from Dec. 31 though Jan. 7. McCann's 14 points Saturday were her most in a game since scoring 14 against Cornell Feb. 26, 2022.
McCann was quick to credit others for helping her navigate the challenges of being out for such an extensive amount of time.
"Our team and our coaching have been so good, No. 1 just from a mental standpoint of making sure I was good, and our training staff, Sarah Hall, was great," said McCann. "I had confidence in my teammates, and they really helped the process."
McCann adds to a deep and talented group of guards that includes the team's top five scorers.
"Our guard group is very versatile," said McCann. "We can spread the floor – if they take away the drive, we've got the three."
While Clark scored just two points, she found plenty of other ways to contribute. That included a game-high 10 assists, a huge reason why the Bulldogs tied their season high for assists as a team (16).
"When we are stagnant, it's not good," said Eshe. "We need to move the ball, get it to both sides of the floor. We've gotten better at doing that."
Yale (9-8, 3-1 Ivy League) trailed by four early on but went on a 10-0 run just before the end of the first quarter, getting four points each from McGill and junior forward
Haley Sabol and two from sophomore forward
Grace Thybulle. The Bulldogs took a 14-11 lead into the second quarter and built it to as many as nine before Cornell rallied to tie the game with 2:39 left before halftime. Astrom then scored four points in the final 90 seconds of the second quarter to send Yale into the break up 31-27.
The Bulldog defense shined in the third quarter, limiting Cornell to nine points and 2-for-12 (16.7 percent) shooting. Astrom scored five points in the third and helped build the lead to 47-36 entering the fourth.
A 7-1 run at the start of the fourth, capped by a pair of Astrom free throws, gave the Bulldogs a commanding 54-37 lead with 7:22 to play. Cornell (8-9, 1-3 Ivy League) got no closer than 12 the rest of the way.
The win is Yale's third in a row. Coming on the heels of that emotional overtime win at Harvard a week ago, it provides some insight into how the Bulldogs handle their successes. Any loss of focus could have proved costly against a hungry Big Red team.
"The team did an excellent job [moving on after the Harvard win]. Cornell was a concerning team for us," said Eshe. "They always battle. To be able to transition to the next game like that shows how we are learning and growing as a team."
Yale plays at Brown on Monday at 3:00 p.m. The Bears took a 37-35 lead with 6:39 left in the third at Princeton Saturday before a 9-0 Tigers run proved pivotal. Princeton eventually took the win, 67-54, to remain a game behind Yale in the Ivy standings. First-place Penn, which plays at Princeton Monday, is 4-0 in the league while Yale and Columbia are tied for second at 3-1.
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