Leading by only three at the half, Yale used a 50-point effort over the last 20 minutes to convincingly beat Columbia, 85-60, taking the first leg of its Empire State weekend.
A battle between two of the Ivy’s up-and-coming programs started with the visitors jumping out to a quick 10-0 start. The Lions (10-6, 1-2 Ivy) battled back to tie the game at 15 by the end of the first quarter, with 12 of those points being scored by Ivy rookies Abbey Hsu, Hannah Pratt (a sophomore who missed all last year), Kaitlyn Davis and Carly Rivera.
The second quarter was a back-and-forth affair with four lead changes and four ties, leaving the game knotted at 32 after Rivera nailed a jumper from the right baseline with just under a minute to go. Yale senior Roxy Barahman calmly sank a shot from the top of the key, beyond the men’s line, to put the Bulldogs up 35-32 to finish the half.
Yale (13-3, 3-0) came out strong in the third quarter to break open the game. Tori Andrew, Camilla Emsbo, Megan Gorman and Ellen Margaret Andrews each scored as the Elis started the half on an 11-2 run. The Bulldogs extended their shooting streak to eight straight before finishing the frame 9-for-11 from the field and 4-for-5 from three-point range.
Yale locked down Columbia, limiting its hosts to 33% from the field and finishing the third quarter with a 59-47 advantage.
The Lions have shown themselves to be a strong fourth quarter team, with five come-from-behind victories on the year. Friday night did not yield a sixth, as Columbia would miss eight of its first nine shots and Yale would go 7-for-11 in that same time to stretch its lead to an insurmountable 29 points.
The Bulldogs shot 60% from two and 59% from three, with a season-high 13 three-pointers. In the dominant second half, the Elis made 79% from inside the arc and 73% (8-for-11) from beyond. Yale’s success from the field was a by-product of its impressive ball movement, which resulted in 22 assists and a 71% assist rate.
In last week’s 33-point victory at Brown, Yale had five players in double figures. On Friday night, the Elis had four double-figure scorers with another just one point away from joining that group.
Barahman finished with a game-high 20 points and five assists. Andrew had 19 points with a perfect 6-for-6 from three for her fourth straight double-digit effort. First-year Klara Astrom came off the bench to score nine points in only 14 minutes.
While Barahman, Emsbo and Andrews led the offense in the early part of the year, Tori Andrew has provided additional firepower in 2020. She ended the night totaling 19 points with a perfect 6-for-6 from three. This was Andrew’s fourth straight double-digit scoring and in that time she has averaged 13.3 points per game with 60% shooting (12-for-20) from downtown.
Gorman missed out on the double-digit scoring, but she finished with a stat-stuffing night of seven points, eight rebounds and game-high seven assists.
Columbia only shot 36% overall and 26% from three. In the decisive second half, the team made 30% from the field and 25% from beyond the arc. The Lions did win the rebounding battle by 13% and controlled the offensive glass with a 31% rate, but could only earn six second-chance points.
Hsu and Davis led the way for the Light Blue with 16 points each. On the other end of the spectrum, Sienna Durr, the 2019 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, was held scoreless for the first time in her career.
Yale, which won its seventh straight game and ended Columbia’s seven-game home winning streak, now travels to Cornell (9-6, 2-1), while Columbia looks to end its two-game losing streak when it hosts Brown (6-10, 0-3). Both games begin at 5 p.m. and can be viewed on ESPN+. The Lions-Bears game can also be seen on SNY in the New York metropolitan area.