Sunday afternoon, Syracuse came back to beat the Bulldogs in a close home game.
Henri Frech
Collaborating journalist
MuscoSportsPhotos.com
Yale Women’s Basketball (4–5, 0–0 Ivy) suffered a loss at the hands of Syracuse University (6–2, 0–0 ACC) on Sunday afternoon, 60–58 .
Syracuse handed the Blue and Whites their first home defeat. The Bulldogs finished the first half by 12, but the Orange pushed them into second-half turnovers. Yale gave up the lead with 4:45 left in the fourth quarter and couldn’t retake it when the game ended.
“[Syracuse is] a second-half team, historically,” head coach Delila Eshe said. “If you look, they had a lot of games where they had big deficits at the start and then they came back.”
Six minutes into the first quarter, Klara Aastroem ’24 came on as a substitute and the Bulldogs went on an eight-point series. Aastroem hit a three to start the push and helped it grow with two more interceptions. The Bulldogs finished the first quarter 17–8.
“As soon as [Aastroem] happens, you know it’s going to have an impact. said Jenna Clark ’24. “His driving was incredible, we needed him at all times. That’s why we put the ball back in his hands at the end of the match. We will keep watching her and she will do her thing because she works very hard every day.
The second quarter saw Syracuse’s offense come to life to match Yale’s strength. Both teams went back and forth, but the Bulldogs increased the margin by three. Yale closed the half 37–25.
Syracuse came out of the break with an all-court press that picked up the pace of the game and troubled Yale’s offense. The crowd, full of fans in orange, roared as Syracuse played.
“It was almost like it was a home away game,” Mackenzie Egger ’25 said.
At the end of the third quarter, the score was 45 to 42 Yale. The Bulldogs held the lead for much of the fourth quarter, but Syracuse took it after the Orange made a three-pointer to put them up 56–54 with 4:45 left.
Aastroem and Clark sank jumpers to make it 58–58. With 1:14 remaining, Syracuse went 60-58 and despite five shot attempts, Yale couldn’t tie it as the bell rang.
“We were a little too tight,” Eshe said. “So we weren’t going into the game to win the game, we were going into the game not to lose it.”
Aastroem led the team with 15 points, Nyla Mcgill grabbed 11 rebounds and Jenna Clark had five assists.
The Bulldogs next play Quinnipiac on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.