Bulldogs Rally Late But Fall at Harvard 55-48
Jan. 27, 2006
CAMBRIDGE, MA - Laura Robinson led all players with 16 points and hit seven crucial free throws down the stretch to lead Harvard to a 55-48 win over Yale on Friday night at Lavites Pavilion. Junior Chinenye Okafor (Rolla, Mo.) led the Yale with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, but Robinson's performance from the charity stripe proved the difference in the Ivy League tilt.
The rivals started out slowly, jostling for the early lead. The Bulldogs took an early 11-6 lead at the 12:12 mark, thanks to a pair of treys from Jamie Van Horne (Healdsburgh,CA)and an old fashioned three-point play from Erica Davis (Columbus, NJ). The Crimson then used a 16-3 run to move ahead 22-14. The push was spearheaded by Lindsay Hallion and Emily Tay, who scored five points apiece during the run.
Harvard got its biggest lead of the half at the 4:40 mark thanks to a three-pointer from Maureen McCaffery, but Yale battled back in the closing minutes, cutting the Crimson lead to 3 after a pair of Okafor free throws. Yale's Kaitlyn Lillemoe (Minnetonka, Minn.) nearly canned a half-court trey as time expired in the half, but it missed just left leaving the Bulldogs down 30-25 going into the locker room.
The Blue went to work early in the second half at cutting into the Crimson lead, but Harvard kept pace and eventually nurtured the lead up to eight points.
With their backs against the wall the Bulldogs responded, cutting the eight point deficit down to three points thanks to five consecutive Stephanie Marciano (Edison, N.J.) points. Thanks in to Robinson's proficiency from the stripe, Harvard re-built the lead to seven on four consecutive free throws. She finished the night 10-12 overall and 7-8 in the second half.
Yale surged back once again, this time cutting the lead to a single basket at 50-48 when Sara McCollum () sank a jumper from the right side. This, however, would be as close as the Bulldogs got for the duration. A combination of missed opportunities on the offensive end and some clutch free-throw shooting by the Crimson closed out the contest.
Yale drops to 1-15 overall and 0-3 in Ivy play while Harvard improves to 5-10 (1-1 Ivy).
The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday night in Hanover, N.H. when the Big Green of Dartmouth entertain Yale.
