Feb. 9, 2007

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NEW HAVEN, Conn.--There's something about Columbia that the Yale women's basketball team just can't figure out. The Bulldogs (10-11, 3-4 Ivy) dropped their third straight game, and fifth straight to Columbia (5-16, 1-6 Ivy), 72-64 at the John J. Lee Amphitheater on Friday night. The loss snapped Yale's seven-game home winning streak.

Columbia jumped out to an early 8-2 advantage before the Bulldogs stormed back to take a 13-10 lead on Stephanie Marciano's three-pointer. The Lions responded with a 16-4 run over the next 4:49 to open up a 26-17 edge. After the teams traded layups, a Melissa Colborne trey and an Erica Davis layup got the Bulldogs back within four at 28-24.

Yale cut the lead to two when Jamie Van Horne's three ball made it 36-34 in favor of Columbia with 50 seconds left in the half. Sara Yee made a layup to bring the Lion lead back to four with 16 second remaining. Yale took a timeout to draw up a final play, and Van Horne nailed another three as the half ended to send the Bulldogs into the locker room trailing by just one, 38-37.

The Bulldogs carried that momentum into the second half, scoring the first eight points of the stanza to open up a 44-38 advantage. After a Davis basket gave Yale a 46-40 lead with 16:02 remaining, the Bulldogs went on a 6:24 scoring drought, during which time Columbia built a six-point lead of its own, 52-46.

Yale tied it at 52-52 on a pair of Colborne free throws with 8:17 left in the contest, then went another 2:49 without scoring. Columbia rattled off nine straight points during that span to pull away. The Bulldogs got within four when a Marciano three-pointer made it 63-59 with 3:48 left, but the Lions immediately went on a 6-0 spurt to bring the lead back to 10. Columbia held on for a 72-64 victory.

The Bulldogs were done in by poor shooting in the second half. Yale scored just 27 second-half points and shot 28.6 percent (6-of-21) from the floor during the stanza. The Bulldogs shot just 27.3 percent (3-of-11) from three-point range and 66.7 percent (12-of-18) at the free throw line in the second half.

Columbia also benefited from sloppy Yale defense. The Lions were fouled going for a layup five times in the period, and made all five baskets. Columbia also made four of the free throws.

"I give Columbia a lot of credit," Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach Chris Gobrecht said. "They wanted this game, and they deserved it. We were out-worked, out-hustled and out-desired. We forgot how hard we have to work."

Davis led all players with 20 points and 12 rebounds. She also posted a career-high five assists and three blocks. Van Horne poured in 12 points, and Colborne notched 11. Sara McCollum tallied 10 points and five rebounds off the bench. Yale shot 40.8 percent (20-of-49) from the field and 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from three in the game. Yale went just 17-for-26 (65.4 percent) from the free throw line. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Lions 33-30.

Danielle Browne led the Lions with 16 points off the bench. Chelsea Frazier tallied 15 points, and Megan Griffith added 11 points, three assists and two steals. Brittany Carfora tallied nine points and a team-high eight rebounds for Columbia. The Lions shot 50 percent (26-of-52) from the field and 73.1 percent (19-of-26) from the free throw line.

Columbia held a 42-24 edge in points in the paint, and a 23-5 advantage in points off turnovers. The Columbia bench outscored the Yale bench 33-12.

The Bulldogs return to action tomorrow night, when they host Cornell at 7 p.m. The Big Red moved into second place in the Ivy League with a 68-59 victory at Brown on Friday. A live video stream of tomorrow night's contest will be available for free on yalebulldogs.com.

NOTES: Davis scored at least 20 points for the third straight game...She is now averaging a double-double in conference play...Yale had four double-digit scorers for the seventh time this season...The Bulldogs have lost three straight for the first time since losing the first three games of the season...Yale is below .500 for the first time since Jan. 3, when it was 6-7...McCollum celebrated her 21st birthday on Friday.

Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity

Video Highlights:

• McCollum cuts Columbia's lead to 10-8
• Colborne hits a three-pointer
• Lillemoe's jumper pulls Yale within 33-30
• Van Horne hits three consecutive three-pointers, her second one coming as the buzzer sounds at halftime, to give Yale a 40-38 lead after being down 36-31
• Van Horne's steal leads to a Davis jumper which gives Yale a 46-40 lead in the second half
• Marciano hits a long, NBA-length three pointer to cut Columbia's lead to 63-59