NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale women's basketball team put together its most complete game of the season Saturday afternoon at Lee Amphitheater against Quinnipiac, and as a result the Bulldogs ended 2023 – and the non-conference portion of their regular-season schedule – on a high note. Their 72-48 win over the Bobcats was the team's largest margin of victory since a 28 point win (65-37) at LIU Dec. 8, 2021.
"From the beginning through the end we played with incredible energy," said
Dalila Eshe, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "We finally put four quarters together. Our biggest challenge now is continuing this momentum into Ivy League play. We're a very good basketball team when we play with discipline."
Yale (3-10, 0-0 Ivy League) never trailed, as a jumper by senior guard
Jenna Clark got the scoring started in the first quarter and the Bulldogs built a 19-14 lead by the end of that frame. Sophomore guard
Kiley Capstraw scored five of her 15 points for the game in the first.
The Bulldogs got the lead to double digits by scoring the first four points of the second quarter, and eventually a pair of free throws by junior guard/forward
Mackenzie Egger sent Yale into halftime up 40-25.
Quinnipiac (4-6, 1-0 MAAC) got no closer than 13 in the third, with Capstraw sinking a pair of threes in the quarter to keep building Yale's lead. Guard
Lucy Lynn – Yale's only first year – added another highlight. Her jumper with 47 seconds left in the quarter represented her first career points, and it touched off a boisterous celebration by her teammates.
"She has been so steady," said Eshe. "She shows up every day and works hard. She has really bought into what we're doing. It can be hard being the only first year, not having any classmates to go through those ups and downs with you."
The Bulldogs kept their foot on the gas in the fourth, capping off a 9-0 run with an and-one by senior forward
Brenna McDonald that got the lead to 63-35 with 6:29 to play. The Bobcats got no closer than 19 the rest of the way.
McDonald finished with 16 points – tying the career high that she set in Yale's last game – and nine rebounds.
"She just has been fantastic," said Eshe. "She has one of the highest basketball IQs on our team. She absorbs things like a sponge. It is great to see her seizing her opportunities in her senior year. She is grabbing it by the reins."
As a team the Bulldogs hit five three-pointers, a dramatic turnaround from their 0-for-10 performance in the previous game.
"We have a group that puts up shots [during the week]," said Eshe. "The goal is 2,000 shots a week, and you have to connect on 60 percent of them. That time in the gym is allowing them to find the rhythm in their shot."
Notes
- Clark finished with eight assists – one away from her season high – and a season-high four steals.
- Capstraw added seven rebounds, one away from her career high.
- McDonald's nine rebounds left her one shy of a double-double.
- Yale's turnover total (10) was its third-lowest of the season.
- The Bulldogs committed only 13 fouls, their second-lowest total of the season.
- A crowd of 572 was on hand for Youth Day, which included a post-game autograph session.
Quotes from Coach Eshe
- On only committing 10 turnovers: "That was a big one. The combination of turnovers and fouls, for us, is something that we can't recover from if we play undisciplined. Today we did a fantastic job with the turnovers and a better job of limiting our fouls."
Up Next
- Yale starts the 14 game Ivy League portion of the regular season at Harvard on Saturday Jan. 6.
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