The Bulldogs (20–9, 11–3 Ivy) fell in overtime to Brown (12–17, 8–6) 84–81 on Saturday afternoon after Brown’s Aaron Cooley hit a fadeaway three with .5 seconds remaining. 

“You got to tip your hat to him,” Yale head coach James Jones said of Cooley’s last-second heave. “We played really good defense and didn’t give him a clean look. It was an off-balance, contested shot and the kid hit it.”

Jones’s squad, favored by 11.5 points entering the matchup, led 69–58 with 4:40 remaining in the game. With 35 seconds remaining, the Bears hit a corner-three to tie the game at 73-73. Cooley’s shot in overtime was Brown’s first and only lead of the game.

Guard August Mahoney ‘24 led the scoring for the Elis with 16 points. Yale’s offense looked in sync for most of the game, making quick cuts and routinely finding shooters for open looks. Five players finished with double-digit scoring performances. 

Defensively, however, Yale struggled to contain Brown’s Kino Lilly Jr., who finished with 26 points. Typically one of the best rebounding teams in the nation, the Bulldogs lost the rebounding battle 39–26, surrendering 16 offensive boards.

“We got our butts kicked on the glass,” Jones said. “They won the game because of what they did on the interior. It was a disappointing team effort.”

With the loss, Yale fell from 80 to 90th in the nation according to kenpom.com’s college basketball ratings, their biggest drop since losing to Fairfield on Dec. 6, which dropped them 20 spots at the time. 

Still, the loss has little impact on the season’s course. Yale entered the game tied with Princeton (23–3, 11–2 Ivy) for first place in the conference standings, but would have still been the second seed in the tournament due to Ivy League tiebreaker rules — which take each team’s NCAA NET ranking into account. 

Princeton, set to play against Penn at 6 p.m., is guaranteed the tournament’s first seed. If the Tigers lose, Yale would earn at least a share of the regular season Ivy title but still wind up second or third at Ivy madness. 

In any event, Yale will face Cornell (22–6, 11–3 Ivy), who would also earn a share of the title with a Princeton loss but will be the second or third seed in the tournament, depending on which team is ranked higher in the NET. The higher seed does not have any competitive advantage in the tournament, which this season will be hosted at Columbia. 

The Bulldogs defeated the Big Red 80–60 in the first round of last year’s tournament. Cornell, however, boasting an elite offense and a rapid style of play that ranks sixth fastest in the nation, is much improved from last season. This season, they’ve split the season series 1-1. 

“We have a lot to learn from this game,” Jones said. “And we’ll get a week of practice to start playing our best basketball again.”

Saturday’s game will tip off at 2 p.m. in Columbia’s Levien Gymnasium. 

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The Bulldogs looked to pull off their second win of the season against Cornell. The last showdown between the two teams went down in Ithaca, with Yale coming out on top, 66–59. The second match against Columbia, however, would prove to be a much more difficult feat. The Lions, who earlier in the year took care of the Bulldogs handily, 52–88, currently sit atop the Ivy League rankings alongside Princeton University (22–4, 12–1 Ivy). 

The first half against Cornell on Friday began with a quick gain in momentum for the Bulldogs, who immediately broke away with the lead. Nyla McGill ’25 led the team’s scoring force in the first quarter, followed by Brenna McDonald ’24 and Mackenzie Egger ’25. The Blue and White offense accounted for eighteen points in the first, which was added onto in the second by Kiley Capstraw ’26 and Jenna Clark ’24. By the end of the first half, the Bulldogs had posted 40 points to the Big Red’s 34. 

After the half, Cornell drew within one point, catching the breath of every Yale fan in John J. Lee Amphitheater. However, the Bulldogs pressed on, persevering through the pressure and continually driving to the basket. Yale never lost their hard-earned lead, thanks to timely baskets by Clark and McGill. The final score was 79–72, in favor of the Bulldogs.

Head Coach Dalila Eshe told Yale Athletics that the team knew the game would be difficult, but they were ready to compete.

“The Cornell game is always going to be a tough, physical game,” she said. “When they got within one, we had to dial ourselves back in, and we did.”

Along with the team scoring a season-best 79 points, McGill and McDonald both had their own double-doubles, their fourth and third, respectively. In the fourth quarter, Yale shot .529 from the field. This is also the eighth game in a row won against Cornell.

With respect to McGill, Eshe told Yale Athletics that her defensive game impacted her offense.

“Nyla was a phenomenal rebounder today,” she said. “When she is a monster on the boards, it translates to her offense. Cornell could not figure out a way to box her out.”

After the Cornell game, the Bulldogs needed a huge win against the stampeding Columbia Lions to keep them in the race for the Ivy League tournament. 

Saturday’s game against the Lions celebrated seniors Clark, McDonald, Klara Aastroem ’24 and Haley Sabol ’24.

In the first quarter, the Lions jumped out quickly to a striking lead, one which the Bulldogs never quite seemed to catch up with. While Columbia reigned on offense, they also held the Blue and White on defense, as only three Bulldogs were able to score in the first quarter: McGill, Astrom and Grace Thybulle ’25. As the time melted into the second quarter, Yale cut the point deficit down to 15, going into halftime trailing, 44–29.

After the half, though the Bulldogs were able to sink more baskets than at the beginning of the game, it was not nearly enough to match the burning-hot Lions, who seemed unstoppable. Despite another double-double from McGill and 16 points from Clark, the Blue and White fell to Columbia, 76–50.

With this loss, Yale fell out of the race for the Ivy League tournament. 

The Yale women’s basketball team will travel to play their final game of the season in Providence against the Brown Bears (7–15, 1–9 Ivy) at 3 p.m. on March 9. 

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Yale (20–8, 11–2 Ivy) beat rival Harvard (14–12, 5–8 Ivy) 80–60 on Saturday night. A night earlier, they took care of business against Dartmouth (5–21, 1–12 Ivy). With the two victories, the Elis reached the 20-win mark for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

Bez John for 3⃣

| (ESPN+) https://t.co/B7Wfg8jNiX#ThisIsYale pic.twitter.com/yG1A6gtWMj

— Yale Men's Basketball (@YaleMBasketball) March 3, 2024

Star forward Danny Wolf ’26 had an all-around performance with 16 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. The statline marked his ninth double-double of the Ivy season, tying the all-time Ivy League record. 

Guard Bez Mbeng ’25 also had a double-double. The junior finished with 10 points and 10 assists — a career-high.

The Bulldogs have now scored over 80 points in each of their last three games. The team’s kenpom.com ranking had shot up nine spots since a Feb. 23 loss to Cornell. Now at 82, the Elis are ranked higher than they’ve been all season. 

Against Dartmouth on Friday, Yale shot 55 percent from the field, 46 percent from three-point range and had 23 assists on their 33 field goals. Guard John Poulakidas ’25 led the way with 16 points, while Matt Knowling ’24 added 13 on 5-6 shooting and Wolf recorded another double-double.

Bez with the steal, Matt with the finish!

| (ESPN+) https://t.co/hCH1umEMIz#ThisIsYale pic.twitter.com/hnblfJ7vYi

— Yale Men's Basketball (@YaleMBasketball) March 2, 2024

Throughout the game, two sections of students held up flags reading “Cease Fire” and “Divest,” calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza, an end to what they called Israel’s occupation of Palestine and that Yale divest from weapons manufacturing. 

Mbeng, the Ivy League’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, filled up the stat sheet once again against the Big Green with eight points, five assists and three steals. 

With one game remaining in conference play, the field for Ivy Madness is set with Yale, Princeton, Cornell and Brown as the four qualifying teams. Yale and Princeton are both 11–2 in season play, but the Tigers will likely earn the first seed through a tiebreaker because they have a higher NET rating. 

In the unlikely event that Princeton loses to Penn (11–17, 3–10 Ivy), the Bulldogs would gain the first seed with a win of their own and play Brown in the tournament’s opening round. Otherwise, they’ll face the Big Red, who they beat at home but fell to on the road. 

Still, the Elis have one more regular season game to play against Brown (11–17, 7–6 Ivy) on Saturday. The Bears got off to a slow start to the season but are better than their record indicates, having won their last five games in Ivy play, including an upset over Cornell in Ithaca. Yale beat them 80–70 in the Ivy League opener in January.

Saturday’s game will tip off at noon in Payne Whitney Gymnasium.

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The Bulldogs hoped to dust off the two losses they surrendered to Princeton University (20–4, 10–1 Ivy) and the University of Pennsylvania (13–11, 5–6 Ivy) from the previous weekend. With a win against Dartmouth, the team was keeping their hopes for a bid in the Ivy League tournament alive.

The last time these two teams met was Jan. 20, when the Bulldogs barely held on to the win, 48–46. This time, they ensured that their lead would be far out of reach by the time the clock wound down to zero.

In the first quarter of the game, the Blue and White quickly jumped out to an eight-point lead, one they never lost throughout the entirety of the contest. It seemed the Bulldogs rarely missed a basket, often going on multiple hot streaks at a time. The lead grew as a result of a team effort, where five Bulldogs contributed to the tally of points in the first, and even more played defensive roles on the court. The first ended with the momentum skewed heavily toward Yale and only heading further in that direction with the score at 21–14.

Although the second quarter was less offensively productive for the Bulldogs, their defense proved proactive and effective against Dartmouth, holding them to only six points through the entire ten minutes of the period. More Bulldogs stepped up to the line and added to the point total, including Nyla McGill ’25, who went two-for-two at the free throw line. As the Blue and White ran off into their locker room at the half, they led 34–20.

Coming back onto the court at the sound of the third-quarter buzzer, the Bulldogs quickly went to work, adding six unanswered points in a row to their lead from three different players. Successful steals and rebounds by Christen McCann ’25 and McGill led to offensive successes that extended the Bulldog margin significantly. The Big Green defense had no answer for Brenna McDonald ’24 and Jenna Clark ’24, who racked on basket after basket to lead their team to victory, 78–42.

McDonald and Clark were the main culprits for the stacks of points that Yale amassed throughout the game, though everyone on the court played a hand in the resounding victory against the Big Green. McDonald and Clark both earned double-doubles, with Clark banking 17 points and 12 assists and McDonald registering a career-high 30 points and 12 rebounds. Mackenzie Egger ’25 and McGill combined for 14 rebounds.

The Yale women’s basketball team looks forward to their homecoming to John J. Lee Amphitheater in New Haven to face Cornell (7–16, 1–10 Ivy) on March 1 at 4 p.m.

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Yale (18–8, 9–2 Ivy) fell to Cornell (20–5, 9–2 Ivy) 65–62 on Friday night in Ithaca, but still clinched a spot due to other results around the league. On Saturday, they bounced back with an 84–76 victory over Columbia.

Against Cornell, the Elis committed 13 turnovers and made just 11 of 26 free-throw attempts. Guard John Poulakidas ’25 was fouled on a three-point attempt with one second remaining and Yale down three, but missed two of the three potentially game-tying free-throw attempts. Even after recovering the ball after the missed shot, an errant pass leading to an over-and-back violation handed the ball back to Cornell, closing out the game.

The game was arguably Yale’s most important of the season thus far, as a win would have cemented them at first place in the Ivy standings and likely the first seed in the tournament, too.

“We had opportunities down the stretch but didn’t take advantage,” head coach James Jones said. “In a league game, you can’t shoot the way we did from the free-throw line and expect to win.”

Now, Yale is tied for first place with both Princeton (21–3, 9–2 Ivy) and Cornell. They are unlikely to get the first seed in the four-team Ivy tournament due to the league’s tiebreaker rules. 

A three-team tie is first determined on the basis of cumulative record against other tied teams. Yale is 1–1 against Princeton and Cornell, and Cornell is 1–0 against Princeton with a game against them on Saturday. If Cornell wins, they’d hold the tiebreaker over Yale. If Princeton wins, each team would still be tied on the basis of cumulative record and the league would determine the tiebreaker on the basis of cumulative record against the next highest seeded team. 

But since both Yale and Princeton are unbeaten against every team besides Cornell, the league would move to the next tiebreaker, which would be the NCAA’s NET rankings. 

As of Monday night, Yale is 82nd in the rankings and Princeton is 51st, so the Tigers would all but certainly earn the first seed in that scenario.

Assuming Yale wins all three of their remaining games, they’d need Princeton or Cornell to lose an additional game beyond the Princeton-Cornell matchup on Saturday.

With that unlikely to happen, the Elis should prepare to face one of either Princeton or Cornell in the first round of the Ivy Tournament, which they must win in order to make the NCAA tournament. 

Still, Yale is a threatening team with capable players on offense and defense. In addition to star forward Danny Wolf ’26, who scored 20 points on 9-15 shooting Saturday night, Poulakidas and guard August Mahoney ’24 are shooting over 40 percent from deep and averaging 12.8 and 10 points per game, respectively. Forward Matt Knowling ’24 gives the Bulldogs a steady source of efficient scoring from around the rim, having scored in double-digits in every Ivy League game he’s played.

On defense, guard Bez Mbeng ’25, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, is putting together another terrific campaign. Swing-forward Casey Simmons ’26 brings length and athleticism to Yale’s perimeter defense in addition to his expanding offensive role.

Yale’s next matchup will come against last place Dartmouth this Friday in Payne Whitney Gymnasium.

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With the number one seed back up for grabs this Friday against Cornell (19–4, 8–1 Ivy), the Bulldogs (17–7, 8–1 Ivy) must hit the accelerator once more. 

“We still have an opportunity to win a championship, we still have an opportunity to get the number one seed,” head coach James Jones told the News after the loss. “We were gonna have to win the rest of our games anyways, so let’s go out and do that now.”

With five games remaining in conference play, Yale and Cornell sit atop the Ivy League standings at 8–1 each, while Princeton (19–4, 7–2 Ivy) is one game back. If the Elis defeat the Big Red on Friday, they’ll have total control over first place and be in prime position to land the first seed at the four-team Ivy tournament in March.

The number one seed is especially desirable in this season’s Ivy League landscape, where three teams — Yale, Cornell and Princeton — rank far above the remaining five. As the first seed, the Bulldogs would likely face either Harvard (13–9, 4–5 Ivy) or Columbia (13–9, 4–5 Ivy) in the tournament’s first round, where they would be heavy favorites. The matchup between the two and three seeds would be Cornell vs Princeton, which would be a far more contested affair. 

Yale, Cornell and Princeton have all only lost to each other so far this season, and are a combined 19–0 against the other five teams.

The Bulldogs beat Cornell on a last-second basket two weeks ago at home, in a game they trailed for over 30 minutes of play. In order to avoid a similarly close game in Ithaca on Friday, they’ll have to do a better job of adapting to the Big Red’s rapid pace of play. 

Cornell’s offense is the fifth fastest offense in the country, playing at a rate of just 14.9 seconds per possession. They also score at a high volume on shots inside two-point range. The team’s 2-point percentage of 63.6 percent ranks first in the country.

There’s no simple way to stop the Big Red, who compromise intensity on defense for speed on offense and whose play often resembles a track meet more than a basketball game. Forcing Cornell to play at Yale’s pace in their home gym will be easier said than done.

What should be easy are the fundamentals. Reducing turnovers should be a key for Yale on Friday, who, despite having the lowest turnover percentage in the conference, coughed the ball up 13 times against Cornell on Feb. 10. In last year’s regular season loss to the Big Red, Yale turned the ball over 16 times. 

The Bulldogs must keep their composure against the Cornell press on Friday night. The steady presence of forward Matt Knowling ’24, who’s missed the last two games due to injury, would be a big addition.

Sharpshooting duo August Mahoney ’24 and John Poulakidas ’25 will also need to take on a larger role in Friday night’s matchup. The two struggled to find quality looks from behind the arc in the two teams’ last matchup, with Yale shooting 3-14 from three-point range.

In last year’s Ivy Tournament against Cornell, though, Poulakidas’s 25-point effort on 6-7 from beyond the arc was a key factor in Yale’s victory. A more efficient night from three-point range will be key to the Elis’ ability to match the Cornell offense.

Yale will also rely heavily on star forward Danny Wolf ’26 to have a comeback game. The 7-footer struggled mightily against Princeton last week, going scoreless on 0-8 shooting from the field. 

The Bulldogs’ ability to limit turnovers, find space on the perimeter, and get Wolf going offensively will go a long way toward making the six-hour journey to Ithaca a success. 

Friday night’s game will tip off at 7:00 p.m. in Cornell’s Newman Arena.

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The last time Yale took on the Quakers this season, a Cinderella story for the books took place when a buzzer-beater from Klara Aastroem ’24 sent the two teams into an overtime that would prove victorious for the Blue and White. The Bulldogs hoped to generate that same momentum back home. 

The entirety of the game seemed determined by the first quarter, which was a slow start for Yale. Only Kiley Capstraw ’26 and Brenna McDonald ’24 were able to put the basketball in the net while multiple Quakers piled onto their lead. They continued to burn through the Bulldogs into the second quarter as well, adding salt to the wound with a three-point buzzer-beater of their own going into halftime. In order to rally, the Bulldogs needed more of the same magic they had from their last game against Penn.

But the same Yale team seemed to come back onto the court after the half. The Quakers’ lead diminished by no more than seven for the rest of the half as no one for the Bulldogs could rekindle their team’s spark. Penn sealed the game 66–52.

The game was not without its highlights as McDonald posted a career-high 25 points.

The next day, the Bulldogs needed to turn around and face No. 24-ranked Princeton University, a seemingly unstoppable team.

At the start of the first half, McDonald lept to win the jump ball, tossing to Nyla McGill ’25. Soon after, Jenna Clark ’24 immediately hit the backboard for the first points of the game, trying to get the momentum going early for her team. At first, multiple steals by McGill and Astrom secured quick baskets for Yale, and it appeared as though the Bulldogs might challenge the Tigers. 

However, as the game progressed, Yale held onto the ball more and made hasty shots under pressure, while Princeton’s aggression got them to the basket quickly and efficiently. Though Princeton did not start off flawlessly, their defense supplied enough energy to keep the Bulldogs to only 15 points at the half.

After halftime, Princeton came out on a hot streak, scoring 14 points unanswered. Though the stands of John J. Lee Amphitheater continued to roar emphatically, missed shots and errorant passes repeatedly cost the Bulldogs crucial points. Despite a good effort, Yale lost their second game of the weekend to the nationally-ranked Princeton Tigers, 70–25.

Despite her 25 points the game prior, McDonald only posted 6 against the tireless Princeton defense. Clark led the team with 8.

The Yale women’s basketball team will travel to Hanover, N.H. to take on Dartmouth (7–15, 1–9 Ivy) on Feb. 24 at 1 p.m.

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Yale (17–7, 8–1 Ivy) fell to rival Princeton (19–3, 7–2 Ivy) 73–62, leaving them one win short of breaking the school record for most wins to begin an Ivy League season.

“It was not a great day for Yale basketball,” head coach James Jones told the News after the loss. “I thought Princeton did a great job defending us and taking things away, and we were not tough enough to run a good offense.”

The Bulldogs, already missing forward Matt Knowling ’24 to an ankle injury, looked flat offensively at times throughout the night, as star forward Danny Wolf ’26 was held scoreless on 0-8 shooting from the field. Bez Mbeng ’25 led the scoring for Yale with 18 points, while John Poulakidas ’25 added 16.

As Wolf faced constant switches and double teams in the low post, Yale seemed unable to open lanes for cutters or find space on the perimeter.

“At the basket they were switching and pushing and shoving us, and we were not patient enough to execute,” Jones said

Jones’s squad did not live up to the team motto of ‘defend, rebound, share,’ as the Elis were outrebounded 32-28 and recorded just six assists on the night.

The loss is Yale’s second straight at Princeton’s Jadwin Gymnasium. Last season, the Tigers beat Yale in the finals of the Ivy tournament, ending their NCAA tournament hopes.

Princeton’s fans packed the bleachers in their home gym, chanting “safety school” and holding up signs like “Gilmore Girls suck” and “Dick Cheney went to Yale.” As the game progressed, fans began to cheer sarcastically when Wolf, scoreless on the night, touched the ball on offense. 

Saturday night’s game was the second of a back-to-back weekend. The Bulldogs took down Penn (9–15, 1–8 Ivy) on Friday night in Philadelphia, winning 76–62. Poulakidas and Mbeng also led the scoring in that game, with 17 and 16 points, respectively.

Yale is now tied with Cornell atop the Ivy League standings. Next Friday, they’ll head to Ithaca for a crucial matchup against the Big Red. With both teams at 8–1, the winner of Friday’s matchup — with four regular season games remaining — will be strongly positioned to hold the top seed at the Ivy tournament in March, which hosts the league’s top four teams in a bracket-style tournament.

Jones said that despite the loss, “everything is still ahead of us.”

“It’s not easy to win ten straight games,” he said. “A C effort tonight isn’t good enough to get the job done against Princeton on the road, but we still have an opportunity to win a championship, still have an opportunity to get the number one seed.”

Friday’s game against Cornell will tip off at 7 p.m.

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A win over Penn (9–13, 1–6 Ivy) on Friday and Princeton (17–3, 5–2 Ivy) on Saturday night would elevate the Bulldogs to a 9–0 conference start, the best in the team’s 128-year history. 

“I don’t see any bad right now,” head coach James Jones said after last week’s win over Cornell. “But what we have to understand as a team right now is that all those teams that we beat in this gym, we have to go beat them in their gym.”

The opportunity to rewrite the record books likely won’t serve as extra motivation for the Bulldogs — even faced with the prospect of playing Princeton in their home court, where their Ivy League tournament aspirations were cut short last season, they will aim to tackle this weekend’s matchups as if they are just like any other game.

Still, clinching two wins this weekend would be a symbolic testament to the strength of this year’s team, and signal a positive momentum ahead of the Elis’ March Madness aspirations.

Almost as remarkable as the team’s nine-game win streak, though, is the road they’ve taken to get there.

Back in November, the News highlighted Yale’s uncharacteristically poor defense through the team’s first seven games, especially their rebounding and interior presence. At the time, the worst was still yet to come: their next two games, back-to-back losses against Vermont and Fairfield in early December, brought the Bulldogs to a 5–5 record and led Jones to say, “We are not playing Yale basketball, and we’re not where we need to be.”

But since then, Jones’ squad has flipped the script defensively, a feat that’s been the driving force behind his team’s success. Yale has won 11 of their last 12 games since losing to Fairfield on Dec. 6, the only loss coming on the road against nationally ranked Kansas. 

In the Ivy League especially, the Bulldogs have been the conference’s top defense by a wide margin through the first seven Ivy games of the season, boasting a kenpom.com defensive efficiency rating of 97.9, two points greater than Princeton, the next closest team. In particular, they lead the league — and are eighth nationally — in keeping teams off the offensive glass, with a 17.8 offensive rebounding percentage allowed. 

Yale has also been extremely stout on the offensive interior, holding teams to a conference-leading 48.8 percent on 2-point shots — the only team in the league to boast a sub-50 percent figure in that category. 

Where Yale stands to improve, however, is its perimeter defense. In the Ivy League, the Bulldogs rank fourth of eight teams in three-point shooting percentage allowed. Their season mark of 34.8 percent is 251st in the country and a regression from last season’s 32.6. 

If the Elis intend to make history Saturday night at Princeton, they’ll have to clamp down on three-point shooting: the Tigers hit 32 of 76 threes — 42.1 percent — across three separate matchups vs Yale last year, and shot 39.4 percent against them two weeks ago.

Or, they could dare to follow last week’s recipe for success against Cornell, in which Yale hit just 3 of 14 threes to the Big Red’s 10 of 25, but managed to come away with a two-point victory.

Penn, on Friday, is an easier matchup on paper. The Bulldogs enter as a five-point favorite and beat the Quakers 74–58 in a home matchup two weeks ago. Still, if the Bulldogs hope to make history, they’ll have to learn from it first: last season, they lost an away game at Penn the night before playing Princeton, their only loss in an otherwise unbeaten two-month stretch. Princeton is the headline matchup, but the Elis must still bring their A-game to the Palestra on Friday night.

As it stands, Yale’s 2016 team holds the record for the longest winning streak to begin an Ivy League season, at eight games. That year’s team became the first in school history to make the NCAA tournament and then scored an upset victory over Baylor in the first round. Still, they are the only Yale team to ever make the second round of the tournament.

For the 2024 Bulldogs, this weekend is a chance to claim the first of those milestones, and in doing so, inch closer to the second one. 

Friday night’s game will tip off at 7 p.m. at the Palestra.

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The weekend prior, the Bulldogs defeated the University of Pennsylvania Quakers (11–10, 3–5 Ivy), 74–68, after forcing an overtime. They rolled into Ithaca, NY confident, especially given that Cornell dropped their previous game to Harvard (13–8, 6–2 Ivy), 52–63. This game was the first time this season that the Bulldogs and the Big Red battled.

The first quarter began with the Big Red winning the tip-off, though holding possession for no time at all before Nyla McGill ’25 stole the ball and passed to Brenna McDonald ’24. Although Cornell jumped to a five-point lead early in the first quarter, a three-pointer by Kiley Capstraw ’26 and a jumper by McGill tied the game up at 5:59. From there, the Bulldogs and the Big Red fought back and forth for the lead, but eventually met up in a tie going into the second.

In the second, the Bulldogs retaliated against one another with points on either side. Soon, however, Yale broke away from the back-and-forth when Mackenzie Egger ’25 and Jenna Clark ’24 shot for seven consecutive points. The Bulldogs ran off the court at the half, leading 27–20.

After the half, the gap widened as the Blue and White increased their lead by as much as 12 points in the third quarter. Turnovers proved fatal for Cornell, which relinquished the ball into the hands of Yale’s top scorers, who capitalized almost every single time. Toward the end of the quarter, it looked as though Cornell was gaining traction, shooting two jumpers and a layup in a row to close the gap to six points. Just as the time dwindled to one second, McGill drove for a layup to take back the momentum. Going into the fourth, the Bulldogs led 46–38.

The last quarter of the game continued Yale’s momentum, with the Bulldogs ahead by no fewer than four points. Yale bested Cornell 66–59.

The crucial game kept the Blue and White in the contest for the Ivy League tournament, as Brown and Penn, the two teams alongside Yale in the race for the fourth and final spot, both lost their games. 

Head Coach Dalila Eshe told Yale Athletics that she was up-front with her team about the necessity of this win.

“We told the team, when you made the decision to be a Division I athlete, you made the decision to embrace pressure,” she said. “We told them this was a must-win game, on the road, which has been a bit of a monkey on our backs.”

Continuing Ivy play, the Bulldogs return home to John J. Lee Amphitheater to face the Quakers on Friday for the second time and the Princeton Tigers on Saturday.

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