PHILADELPHIA – A buzzer-beating three-pointer to tie the game at the end of regulation provided the prelude to a decisive overtime period as the Yale women's basketball team stunned Penn Saturday evening at the Palestra, 74-68. The Bulldogs trailed by as many as 11 earlier in the game but eventually closed the gap to three in the waning moments of regulation, calling timeout with 12 seconds left after a defensive rebound by senior guard
Jenna Clark. The Bulldogs then initially appeared to be bottled up by the Quaker defense, but Clark spotted senior guard
Klara Astrom open in the corner and Astrom swished the game-tying three in front of her own bench. The Bulldogs went on to outscore the Quakers 11-5 in the extra session, holding Penn to a 1-for-10 shooting performance in OT, to take home a crucial Ivy League win.
Penn (11-9, 3-4 Ivy League) had blown out Brown 77-56 the night before, and the Quakers started hot on Saturday. They led by as many as 11 in the second quarter, but the Bulldogs trimmed their deficit to two (35-33) by halftime.
The Bulldogs remained within striking distance throughout the third, never falling behind by more than four. A
Mackenzie Egger layup off a steal with 1:18 left finally gave them the lead, 46-45, for the first time in more than six minutes. Yale would go into the fourth up 49-47.
The fourth quarter was a seesaw affair, with Yale falling behind by as many as five points three times – but answering each time. The last came after Penn took a 63-58 lead with 1:58 to play. Junior guard
Nyla McGill answered with a layup off a Clark assist, and the Bulldogs then forced two Penn misses in the paint to set up the dramatic final possession of regulation.
"We got into scramble mode, and didn't execute the way we had planned," said
Dalila Eshe, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "Jenna saw Klara wide open out of the corner of her eye, in her peripheral vision. She told me she knew she was going to make it, just like last year [when Astrom hit a buzzer-beating three at the end of regulation in Yale's 71-70 OT win at Harvard]."
Yale's celebration of Astrom's three was exuberant, but the Bulldogs quickly turned their attention to the task at hand. Penn scored the first two points of overtime but Yale scored the next six – four from Clark and two from McGill. Penn eventually got within one with 38 seconds left, but sophomore guard
Kiley Capstraw calmly sank two free throws.
After a missed three-point attempt by Penn that could have tied the game, McGill got a block and a steal to set up senior forward
Brenna McDonald for an and-one that put the game out of reach. It was a fitting end to a game in which those two played major roles and had double-doubles – 19 points and 10 rebounds for McDonald, 10 points and 13 rebounds for McGill. McGill added four steals.
"Brenna had an unbelievable game," said Eshe. "She's reaching the top of her game. This is really her first full year of playing regularly, and she is giving us some incredible minutes and a really high shooting percentage. Nyla dug in and defended their best player the entire game. She also had a couple key baskets."
Clark finished with 25 points, one off her career high, and nine assists. Astrom, meanwhile, made the most of her opportunities – she hit both of her shots to finish with five points for the night – and found all sorts of ways to contribute that went beyond just hitting a crucial three. She had the best +/- of the game, 18. That was 10 better than any other player.
"She did a fantastic job defensively," said Eshe. "She was our brains on the court, and guarded a lot of their better players. She's got a really high basketball IQ."
With the win Yale (5-15, 2-5 Ivy League) moves to within two games of Brown for the fourth and final Ivy League Tournament spot with seven games to play.
Notes
- Both teams shot 44 percent in the first half. Yale went on to shoot 46.7 percent for the game, the Bulldogs' second-best shooting performance of the year.
- Yale limited Penn to a combined total of 25 points in the second and third quarters.
- Yale has won three of its last four at the Palestra against Penn. The Quakers had been 18-4 at home in the last two seasons entering Saturday's game.
Quotes from Coach Eshe
- "The energy was incredible the entire game. Our will to win and our desire to win was what won us this basketball game."
Elsewhere in the Ivy League
- Columbia 71, Dartmouth 52
- Harvard 63, Cornell 52
- No. 25 Princeton 76, Brown 63
Up Next
- Yale plays at Cornell next Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
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