NEW HAVEN, Conn. – For a moment on Saturday afternoon at Lee Amphitheater, the Yale women's basketball team looked ready to pull off a repeat of last season's stunning 71-70 overtime win at Harvard. The Bulldogs trailed by only five with 5:45 left Saturday, similar to the eight-point deficit they faced with 3:45 left in the 2023 victory. And, similar to last year, this year they managed to force a key turnover by Harvard's star guard, Harmoni Turner.
But whereas last year's turnover – a steal by junior guard
Nyla McGill – led to a game-tying three-pointer by senior guard
Klara Astrom with 16 seconds left, this year the Bulldogs could not take advantage of senior guard
Jenna Clark's late steal against Turner. After a missed Yale layup that could have pulled the Bulldogs within three, Turner made a layup of her own to get the Crimson's lead to 51-44 with 4:51 left. Yale got no closer than four the rest of the way, and three free throws by Turner in the final 20 seconds helped seal a 61-52 Harvard win.
Despite the loss, Yale (4-14, 1-4 Ivy League) still could measure its progress by this game. When these two teams met three weeks ago, Harvard (11-7, 4-1 Ivy League) jumped out to a 24-9 lead after the first quarter and went on to win by 19. This time, the Bulldogs hung tough through the first quarter (trailing 16-8) and outscored the Crimson 34-27 over the next two quarters to get within one heading into the final frame. This wound up being just the second time in the last six games that Harvard was held to fewer than 69 points.
"We executed a lot better," said
Dalila Eshe, Yale's Joel E. Smilow Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "We played a fantastic three quarters, but only shot 7.7% in the fourth."
The Bulldogs remained within striking distance in part by having McGill, last year's Ivy League Co-Defensive Player of the Year, defend Turner for the majority of the game. Turner had scored 31 in the Crimson's most recent game, a 69-56 win vs. Penn. On Saturday she scored 21 – essentially an average game for her, given that was averaging 20.8 points per game entering the day. In the game vs. Yale three weeks ago, Turner had scored 28.
"Nyla did a heck of a job on Harmoni," said Eshe. "She's an incredible defender. Having her dialed in for 40 minutes made a huge difference."
McGill finished one point and one rebound shy of a double-double. Junior forward
Grace Thybulle led Yale with 14 points, adding six rebounds. Clark added 11 points, five assists and three steals.
Notes
- Yale limited Harvard to a 2-for-18 performance on three pointers, tied for the third-lowest three-point shooting percentage in a game this season for the Crimson.
- The Bulldogs committed only 14 fouls, tied for their third-lowest total in that category this season.
- Yale shot .850 (17-for-20) from the free throw line, the third time in the last five games that the Bulldogs have shot .833 or better.
Other Ivy League Scores
- Columbia 84, Penn 55
- Princeton 85, Cornell 47
- Brown 35, Dartmouth 31
Up Next
- Yale visits Princeton next Friday at 7:00 p.m.
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