Feb. 18, 2007

Box Score

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--After winning eight out of nine, the Yale women's basketball team has now lost five out of six and seen its Ivy League championship hopes all but disappear. It was free throw shooting that cost the Bulldogs in Friday night's loss at Dartmouth. On Saturday, turnovers were the story. Yale (11-13, 4-6 Ivy) turned it over 26 times, leading to 26 Harvard points in a 68-58 victory by the first-place Crimson (10-12, 8-1 Ivy) at Lavietes Pavilion.

Jamie Van Horne's three-pointer gave Yale a 5-4 lead 1:59 into the contest. That basket, however, was the Bulldogs' last for the next 7:45, as Harvard built a 16-5 lead. Van Horne drained another trey to make it 16-8 with 10:16 remaining in the half, but Yale then went on another four-minute scoring drought. The Crimson outscored the Bulldogs 8-0 during the stretch to open up a 24-8 lead.

"The game was the first five minutes," Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach Chris Gobrecht said. "We weren't ready to play. You can't play catch-up against a good team like this, especially on the road."

Van Horne single-handedly got the Bulldogs back into the game with three-pointers on three consecutive possessions, shrinking Harvard's lead from 16 to seven, 24-17, in a little over a minute. Van Horne had 15 straight Yale points. After a Niki Finelli jumper increased Harvard's lead to nine, Stephanie Marciano drained two treys to pull the Bulldogs within three at 28-25. Despite being completely outplayed in the first half, Yale trailed by just five, 30-25, at intermission.

Seven of Yale's eight first-half baskets were three-pointers, as the Bulldogs shot 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from behind the arc in the period. Yale shot just 33.3 percent (8-of-24) as a team overall in the first half, compared to 55.6 percent (15-of-27) for the Crimson.

Harvard's lead grew to 12 at 44-32 with 14:37 left, but the Bulldogs fought back to pull within five on several occasions. Erica Davis sank a pair of free throws to make it 56-51 with 5:57 to go. Finelli drained a three on the other end to ignite a 9-0 Harvard rally that essentially put the game away. The Bulldogs never got within single-digits again, and a Jacqueline Erickson three-pointer capped the scoring in the 68-58 Harvard win.

For the first time all season, Yale only had one double-digit scorer. Van Horne led the way with 20 points. Marciano added nine points, seven assists and a career-high five steals. Davis, who was double-teamed most of the night, finished with seven points and a team-high five rebounds. She also had two blocks, giving her 56 for the season, a new single-season school record. The Bulldogs shot 41.7 percent (20-of-48) from the field and 47.6 percent (10-of-21) from three-point land. Yale shot 80 percent (8-of-10) at the charity stripe.

Lindsay Hallion and Emily Tay each notched 17 points for the Crimson. Hallion also tallied five rebounds and three steals, while Tay added eight assists. Finelli posted 14 points for Harvard. Christiana Lackner had six points to go along with five steals and a game-high seven rebounds. The Crimson shot 55.4 percent (31-of-56) from the field, 33.3 percent (2-of-6) from behind the arc, and 50 percent (4-of-8) from the free throw line. Harvard held a 32-23 edge on the boards, including a 12-7 advantage on the offensive glass.

The Bulldogs return to action next weekend for their final two road games of the season. Yale visits Cornell Friday at 7 p.m. before heading to Columbia Saturday at 7 p.m. Last weekend in New Haven, the Bulldogs defeated the Big Red 61-45 and fell, 72-64, to the Lions.

NOTES: Davis broke her own single-season record of 55 blocks set in 2004-05...She has as many blocks this season as all Yale opponents combined...With 104 assists this season, Marciano moved into 10th place on Yale's single-season assist leaderboard...Van Horne's 20-point effort gives the Bulldogs a 20-point scorer in 10 of the last 12 games...Yale has lost 13 straight Ivy League road games...The Bulldogs played in front of a crowd greater than 1,000 for the third straight game.

Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity