Everything that starts well does not always end well.
That was the story for Yale women’s basketball at John J. Lee Amphitheater Thursday in a rare noon game against St. John’s of the Big East.
The Red Storm prevailed, 75-56.
Yale (2-10) came out hot and aggressive in the first half and the usual deliberate Elis quickly led 13-10 off nine points from junior forward Grace Thybulle.
The Elis led 23-20 at the end of a first quarter in which both teams shot over 60%.
The Elis grabbed a 25-20 lead and then saw the Red Storm go on an 11-0 run to lead 36-29.
The Red Storm led 40-31 at the half, largely as a result of 10 Yale turnovers. St. John’s (7-6) only had two.Thybulle sat much of the second quarter with two fouls.
St. John’s leading scorer on the season, redshirt senior guard Unique Drake, had 16 first-half points. Drake tied a career high with 30 points.
Yale cut the lead to 49-43, but St. John’s went on another run to lead 59-46 at the end of the third quarter.
It was all St. John’s in the last stanza.
“We had a really good first quarter and then foul trouble and turnovers started to plague us, and after that we could not really get out footing,” Yale coach Dalila Eshe said.
Yale was whistled for 25 fouls, as compared with only 13 for St. John’s.
Yale was led by senior forward Brenna McDonald with a career-high 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting.
”Breanna has started to find her rhythm,” Eshe said.
St. John’s has now won five out of its last six games and is 6-0 all-time against Yale.
The Bulldogs, who had been off since December 9, are next in action on December 30 at 1 p.m. at JLA against in-state rival Quinnipiac.