Harvard women’s basketball overcame a 32-point outing by Yale sophomore guard Ciniya Moore and held the Bulldogs at bay, 70-62, at John J. Lee Amphitheater Friday night, powered by a winning performance from Crimson junior guard Karlee White.
Dalila Eshe
Penn women’s basketball turns over, tops Yale on the road
Two teams desperate for consecutive Ivy League wins after both starting 0-3 met at John J. Lee Amphitheater Saturday. Penn easily downed Yale, 64-37.
Second half spells doom for Yale women’s basketball in loss to Brown
There was reason for hope.
Yale had won three out of five games and lost the other two in overtime. It grabbed a 25-18 first-quarter lead over a scrappy, veteran Brown squad and was tied with the Bears at 41 at the half in their Ivy League opener at John J. Lee Amphitheater Monday.
And then reality struck.
2025-26 Ivy League women’s basketball preview
The release of the Ivy League preseason media poll and 2025-26 Media Day revealed Princeton as the favorite heading into the 2025-26 season, followed by three-time defending champion Columbia, 2025 Ivy Madness title-holder Harvard in third and Penn rounding out the upper half of the conference.
Brown, which has tied the Quakers for fourth place the last two years, is the clear choice for the fifth slot. Dartmouth, Cornell and Yale are pegged for the last three spots, with the Big Green one point ahead of the Big Red and seven points in front of the Bulldogs.
2025-26 IHO Women’s Preseason Poll
The 2025-26 Ivy women’s basketball season tips off Friday, so it’s time for Ivy Hoops Online’s preseason poll – not to be confused with the Ivy League-released media preseason poll. Here’s how our contributors collectively predict the league will shake out, with select observations from some of them:
Princeton women’s basketball rolls past Yale, 71-42, on Senior Night
Princeton women’s basketball coach Carla Berube has accumulated so many talented players on her roster over the years that pundits have often wondered how Princeton’s bench would fare against another team’s starting lineup. They got their answer on Saturday at Jadwin Gymnasium as Berube started all five members of her senior class in a 71-42 Senior Night romp over Yale.
Yale women’s basketball heads for Harvard with losing skein snapped
Seventy-seven days is a long time in a college hoops season of about 130 days.
It was an especially long time for Yale women’s basketball coach Dalila Eshe, since that was the length of time between her team’s opening-night win over Monmouth in November and a victory on Monday at Dartmouth.
Yale (2-15, 1-3 Ivy) upset Dartmouth (8-9, 2-2) 70-67 behind 22 points from senior forward Grace Thybulle.
“Grace had an incredible game,” Eshe said.
Rivalry games are tough, but Harvard women’s basketball bests Yale, 61-43
“Don’t let up, pedal on the gas,” Carrie Moore said midway through the third period with Harvard women’s basketball building a scoring run against Yale.
Moore’s Crimson defeated host Yale, 61-43, in a surprisingly competitive game Saturday to open Ivy League play.
Consider that Harvard (12-1, 1-0 Ivy) had already defeated Boston University by 60 (86-26) and Yale had fallen to the Terriers, 77-56, just last week.
Ivy women’s basketball Media Day highlights
As the 2024-25 season quickly approaches, the Ivy League hosted its annual women’s basketball Media Day on Thursday. The three-hour event, hosted by Lance Medow, can be viewed on the conference’s YouTube channel.
Prior to the event, the league announced the results of its preseason poll.
Princeton, which has claimed the Ancient Eight title for the last six years, was picked first with 122 out of a possible 128 points and 10 first-place votes. Columbia, which has tied for the top spot in each of the last two seasons, came in second with 110 points and five first-place votes.
Harvard, which has finished the last two years in third placed, was tabbed for third in 2025, earning 101 points and one first-place spot.
Penn, the final participant in last year’s Ivy tournament, was picked fourth with 75 votes, while Brown, which finished last year tied with Penn for fourth, was four points back in fifth place.
Sixth place went to Yale, which was as high as third place in 2022, with 48 votes.
While Cornell and Dartmouth ended last season tied for seventh place, the Big Red got the nod for seventh in this year’s poll with 30 points and the Big Green were eighth with 19 points.
Below are highlights from this year’s virtual Media Day:
Yale women’s basketball looks to move up in Ivy pecking order
The Yale women finished last season at 8-19 and 5-9 in the Ivy League. Gone from last year are leading scorer and assist leader Jenna Clark, leading rebounder Nyla McGill and third-leading scorer Brenna McDonald. Good news or bad news?
Well, Ivy media has pegged Yale as a sixth-place finisher.
Yale third-year coach Dalila Eshe says her team will have improved “culture” and be “incredibly athletic, running a high-octane offense.” She defines culture as “buying into the program and [being] like-minded.”