Yale Athletics

The Yale women’s basketball team (3–13, 0–3 Ivy) continued 2023–24 season play and began Ivy League conference play over the winter break. 

The Bulldogs faced the Harvard (9–7, 2–1 Ivy), Brown (11–5, 2–1 Ivy) and Columbia (12–4, 3–0 Ivy) women’s basketball teams for their first Ivy games.  

The Bulldogs started their conference play facing some of the top teams in the league. Princeton University (13–3, 3–0 Ivy) recently made headlines after beating nationally-ranked University of Oklahoma (10–6, 4–1 Big 12) a few weeks ago. Harvard and Columbia joined Princeton in the top 80 of the most recent NET rankings.  

On Saturday, Jan. 6, the Yale women’s basketball team ventured to Cambridge, Mass. to battle the Harvard Crimson for their first Ivy game of the season. The Bulldogs played quietly in the first quarter, answering only nine points to Harvard’s 24. From there, the team seemed to wake up and compete against their rival, falling just short of the Crimson’s 49 points with 45. A career-high 18 points from Grace Thybulle ’25 and 12 points from Kiley Capstraw ’26 were to no avail. The first quarter determined the fate of the Ivy opener and the Bulldogs took the loss 73–54.

Head coach Dalia Eshe told Yale Athletics that her team needed to come out against Harvard ready from the get-go.

“This game was all about showing up and being ready,” she told the News. “We don’t score at a high enough clip to be able to absorb a quarter like the first quarter, otherwise the score could have been flipped.”

A similar situation occurred at home the next Saturday against the Brown University Bears, with a slow start hurting the Bulldogs’ chances of winning. The Bears stole the first quarter 20–9. However, this time the Blue and White attempted to fashion together an enormous comeback during the fourth quarter, trailing by 21 points. Through a clutch 17–0 run, aided by Jenna Clark ’24 and Brenna McDonald ’24, Yale pulled within four points. However, time dwindled faster than they could succeed over the Bears, and Brown held on to the game with a tight grip, 76–71.

Clark led the team in the game against Brown with 17 points, followed by Capstraw at 16 and McDonald at 12. Mackenzie Egger ’25 had 10 rebounds and five steals.

Two days later, the Bulldogs headed toward New York City for a match-up against the Columbia Lions, who sought to maintain their 10-game win streak and stay tied with the Princeton Tigers atop the Ivy League rankings. The Lions made it to the Ivy League tournament last year but fell in the semifinals to Harvard.

Though the Bulldogs once again fell early in the first 16–6, the first half of the game appeared relatively even between the two teams. Both Clark and Capstraw had 12 points throughout the game, followed this time by Egger and Lola Lesmond ’26. However, the exhaustion from the first half caught up with the Blue and White, who trailed for the remainder of the game and allowed the deficit to widen. Four players for the Lions shot for double-digits, an element of what made them so difficult to beat.

Coach Eshe told Yale Athletics that getting Egger to continue her production will be a big part of what will allow them to be successful in the future.

“Mackenzie had a really good postseason after last year and a really good preseason this year,” Eshe said. “The first part of this season was frustrating. Being able to get her going will be huge.”

The Bulldogs return home this weekend to the John J. Lee Amphitheater in New Haven to face the Dartmouth Big Green (6–9, 0–3 Ivy) at 1 p.m. this Saturday. The team will celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day during the game.