The Yale women’s basketball team was unable to recover from an early deficit in their game against Dartmouth at Leede Arena on Saturday night, resulting in a 77-59 loss.
Dartmouth began the game by scoring the first 17 points. Junior forward Mary Meng put Yale on the scoreboard with a layup late in the first quarter. The Bulldogs improved their play and managed to reduce Dartmouth’s lead to five points after a free throw by sophomore guard Ke’iara Odume in the second quarter. However, Dartmouth responded and extended their lead to 12 points by halftime.
The third quarter saw both teams trading baskets, with Yale closing out the period on an 11-7 run led by six points from sophomore guard Marisa Chapman. Entering the fourth quarter, Yale trailed 50-40.
Dartmouth opened the final period with a 9-4 run, leading to a Yale timeout. Although baskets from Chapman and Meng brought Yale within 11 points, Dartmouth’s Nina Minicozzi answered with a three-point play that prevented further progress from the Bulldogs. Yale did not get closer than within 12 points for the remainder of the game.
With this result, Yale’s record stands at 5-15 overall and 1-6 in Ivy League play, while Dartmouth moves to 10-10 overall and also holds a 1-6 conference record.
Sophomore guard Ciniya Moore led Yale in scoring with 17 points. Both Marisa Chapman and Mary Meng collected eight rebounds each for Yale. Meng also contributed four blocks and achieved a career-high of 11 points. Four players shared the team lead with two assists each.
“Yale had four double-digit scorers: Moore, sophomore guard Ke’iara Odume (14), Chapman (13) and Meng (11).” The Bulldogs held advantages in rebounds (36-34) and bench scoring (25-11). Their total of 11 steals was just one short of their season high.
“Meng, whose high in rebounds is 15, has had seven or more rebounds in a game six times this season.” Odume reached double figures for the fourth time this season after doing so only once as a first-year player.
Dartmouth shot .440 from the field—its second-best shooting percentage against Division I competition this season.
Elsewhere in Ivy League action: Penn defeated Columbia 64-55; No.19 Princeton won over Cornell by a score of 72-61; Brown faced Harvard later that evening.
Yale will next travel to face Brown on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
