Feb. 25, 2007

Box Score

NEW YORK--Brittany Carfora's three-pointer with 34 seconds left gave Columbia the lead for good, and Becky Hogue's free throw with three seconds remaining sealed a 66-64 victory for the Lions (8-18, 4-8 Ivy) over Yale (11-15, 4-8 Ivy) Saturday night at Levien Gymnasium. The Bulldogs lost for the seventh time in their last eight games, and for the sixth straight time against Columbia.

After Carfora's trey, Yale drove down and Jacqueline Erickson had an open look from three, but the shot fell short. The Bulldogs grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 14 seconds left. When play resumed, Megan Griffith stole the ball from Stephanie Marciano, but lost control of it. The possession arrow favored the Bulldogs, and Yale appeared to force a tie-up, but Kaitlyn Lillemoe was whistled for a foul. Yale still had a chance with three seconds left when Hogue made one of two free throws, but the Bulldogs weren't able to get a shot off and fell, 66-64.

"It's a tough situation to know that we had a chance to win both games this weekend, but we're going home 0-2 instead of 2-0," Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach Chris Gobrecht said.

Yale scored the first eight points of the contest before Columbia responded with a seven-point rally of its own. The Bulldogs' lead got back up to six at 13-7 with 12:45 left in the half, but the Lions came back to tie it at 15-15. Yale scored the next five points to take a 20-15 lead, but treys on three consecutive Columbia possessions put the Lions in front for the first time, 24-22, with 2:53 left in the period. The Bulldogs went back in front when Lillemoe converted a traditional three-point play, and led by two with 33 seconds left in the half. With the shot clock expiring on the ensuing Columbia possession, Shasta Henderson hit a fall-away jumper to force a 28-28 halftime tie.

The teams traded leads for the first few minutes of the second half. After a Marciano layup cut Columbia's lead to 49-48 with 9:47 remaining, the Lions went on an 11-2 run over the next 4:43 to open up their biggest lead of the game, a 60-50 margin with 5:04 left. The Bulldogs responded with a 14-2 run of their own over the next 4:12. Two Melissa Colborne free throws gave the Bulldogs their final lead of the night, a 64-62 edge with 52 seconds to go.

Sara McCollum notched her first double-double of the season for the Bulldogs with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Colborne chipped in 14 points and nine boards, while Marciano added 14 points. Erica Davis finished with nine points, 11 rebounds and three blocks despite playing just 22 minutes due to foul trouble. Yale shot 41.2 percent (21-of-51) from the field, 20 percent (1-of-5) from three-point range, and 75 percent (21-of-28) from the charity stripe. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Lions 45-22, including a 16-5 edge on the offensive glass.

Carfora had a game-high 17 points for the Lions, including four three-pointers. Griffith notched 14 points, seven assists and four steals. Danielle Browne added 13 points, five rebounds and four steals for Columbia. The Lions shot 40.4 percent (19-of-47) from the floor and 57.1 percent (8-of-14) from behind the arc. Columbia shot 62.5 percent (20-of-32) from the free throw line.

The Bulldogs conclude the season next weekend with a pair of home games. Penn comes to the John J. Lee Amphitheater Friday night at 7 p.m., and Princeton comes to New Haven for Senior Day Saturday night at 7 p.m. The Quakers beat Yale 70-57 in Philadelphia earlier this season, and Princeton notched an 83-73 victory over the Bulldogs when the teams met at Jadwin Gym.

NOTES: Davis played in her 100th career game Saturday night...McCollum's last double-double was a 14-point, 15-rebound effort against Brown on Jan. 14, 2006...Yale was just 2-for-16 from three-point range on the weekend...The Bulldogs finished the season with a 2-12 road record, and an 0-7 record in Ivy games away from the John J. Lee Amphitheater...Yale has now lost 15 straight Ivy League road games...After going 5-1 in January, Yale went just 1-7 in February.

Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity