Down 13 in the final stanza hosting Lehigh Wednesday evening, Yale women’s basketball mounted a furious comeback, fueled by a three-point shooting barrage.
But the Bulldogs couldn’t close the deal, bowing to the Mountain Hawks, 70-63. at John J. Lee Amphitheater.
The Mountain Hawks had opened up an early 10-5 lead before Yale (6-7) fought back to lead 11-10 after the first quarter.
Lehigh (4-7) shot it well in the second quarter and led 31-25 at intermission before running out to a 36-27 lead early in the third quarter. The visitors led 53-43 heading into the last period.
“We started out locked in and intense on defense, then had [a] mental letdown in the second and third where we didn’t follow the game plan,” first-year Yale coach Dalila Eshe said.
Lehigh led 59-46 and appeared on its way to an easy victory when Yale junior guards Elles van der Maas and Jenna Clark, the Ivy assists leader, took over.
Clark hit two consecutive three-pointers to cut the lead to 59-52 and van der Maas did the same to bring the Bulldogs within 63-62 on the strength of a 16-4 run.
Yale could get no closer.
Yale was led in scoring by first-year phenom Kiley Capstraw with 22 points. Clark chipped in with 17, shooting 5-for-7 from three. The Bulldogs shot 9-for-19 (47.4%) from three and outrebounded the Mountain Hawks, 42-32.
First-year Lehigh head coach and 2011 Princeton hoops alumna Addie Micir, the program’s first ever Ivy Player of the Year, knows Ivy League basketball not only as a player but as a coach, serving as an assistant at both Dartmouth and Princeton before moving on to Lehigh to become an assistant there.
Micir noted that Yale, true to its name, “plays like bulldogs.”
“We had to get it done,” Micir said.
The road does not get any easier for Yale, which opens conference play at home against Columbia on New Year’s Eve at 1 p.m. Yale all-everything senior forward Camilla Emsbo is injured and out for the season. She is drawing fifth-year interest from high majors from all over the country, with Michigan making a heavy run at her.