NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The 2024-25 Yale women's basketball schedule is a challenging one, including nine games against teams that won 20 or more games last year. The Bulldogs announced the schedule Tuesday. Yale opens the season Tuesday, Nov. 4 vs. Monmouth at John J. Lee Amphitheater.
The Bulldogs have 14 regular season Ivy League games, starting vs. Harvard on Jan. 4. Those games provide a chance to earn one of four spots in the Ivy League Women's Basketball Tournament. Ivy Madness -- which determines the men's and women's teams that receive the league's automatic berths in the NCAA Tournaments -- takes place Mar. 14-16, 2025 in Providence, R.I. at Brown's Pizzitola Center.
This is Yale's third year with
Dalila Eshe as the team's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball. Her coaching staff includes assistant coaches
Amber Raisner,
Helen Tau and
Hannah Early Vaughn, and
Jehrin Colbert is the team's director of operations.
Here is a breakdown of Yale's schedule for 2024-25:
The Basics
- Yale's regular-season schedule consists of 27 games. That includes 14 games against Ivy League opponents -- one home and one away against each of the seven other schools (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn and Princeton).
- The regular-season schedule includes 13 non-conference games. In addition to the Ivy League, Yale plays games against teams from nine other conferences:
- America East (Bryant Nov. 29)
- Atlantic Coast Conference (at Syracuse Dec. 1)
- Atlantic 10 Conference (Fordham Dec. 4)
- Big 10 Conference (at Michigan State Nov. 8)
- Colonial Athletic Association (Monmouth Nov. 4, at Hofstra Nov. 12, Stony Brook Nov. 15)
- Conference USA (at FIU Dec. 7)
- Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (Merrimack Nov. 19, at Marist Nov. 26, at Quinnipiac Dec. 9)
- Patriot League (BU Dec. 29)
- West Coast Conference (Pacific Nov. 24)
- Yale plays games in nine different states (Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island). Seven of Yale's student-athletes have at least one game in their home state this year.
- There are 13 home games and 14 road games on the regular season schedule.
Strength of Schedule
- Yale will take on seven teams that won 20 or more games last season, playing a total of nine games against those teams.
- The Bulldogs play a total of 10 games against teams that played in a national postseason tournament in 2023-24. Yale plays six games against teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season (two games vs. Columbia, two games vs. Harvard, Michigan State, Syracuse), three games against teams that made the WNIT last season (FIU, Monmouth, Pacific) and one game against a team that made the WBIT last season (Stony Brook).
- Seven of Yale's opponents finished in the top two of their conference in the regular season in 2023-24.
- Five of Yale's opponents finished among the top 70 in the NCAA NET Rankings last year (No. 22 Michigan State, No. 35 Princeton, No. 44 Syracuse, No. 56 Columbia, No. 69 Stony Brook).
Dates to Celebrate
- On Saturday, Mar. 8 vs. Brown, Yale will celebrate Senior Day, honoring the team's seniors:
- Yale's full promotional schedule will be announced later.
Postseason
- The Ivy League team that finishes the regular season with the best conference record will be declared the Ivy League champion. The winner of the Ivy League Tournament receives the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
- Multiple national postseason women's basketball tournaments are set for 2025:
- The NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Selection Show takes place on Mar. 16. The field of 68 will be announced on that day. Tournament competition starts with the First Four games Mar. 19-20. The first and second rounds take place Mar. 21-24. The Regional Rounds (Sweet 16, Elite Eight) take place Mar. 28 to Mar. 31 in Birmingham, Ala., and Spokane, Wash. The Final Four and Championship take place Apr. 4 and 6 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla.
- The NCAA added an additional postseason tournament last year: the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT). It includes 32 teams.
- The Postseason WNIT continued as a 48 team tournament last year.
- The WBI (Women's Basketball Invitational), which Yale won in 2018, announced in March that after being paused in 2024 it hopes to return in 2025.
Follow Along
- Live stats and video of all home games – and road games where applicable – will be available via links on yalebulldogs.com. All home games, and select road games, will be available on one of ESPN's platforms.
- Season tickets for Yale's home games are on sale now and available by clicking here.
- Yale Women's Basketball season ticket information:
- General Admission (Adult) - $75
- General Admission (Youth/Senior/Yale Employee) - $45
- The schedule is subject to change. Check yalebulldogs.com for updates.
