2023-24 Ivy women’s media day recap and season preview

With the season a few weeks away, the Ivy League hosted Women’s Basketball Media Day on Monday, the first of two media availabilities this week. The event was hosted over Zoom for media members and is available on the conference’s YouTube channel.

The preseason media poll was released last Thursday with Princeton earning all 16 first-place votes. Last year’s Ivy Tournament winner and regular season co-champions are the sixth unanimous pick in league history and the first since Penn in 2016-2017.

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Yale women escape Harvard with 71-70 overtime victory

Yale was traveling from Hanover to Harvard Friday night and coming off a 97-53 home thrashing by Columbia a week before against a Crimson squad that had taken down mighty Princeton the same day. It seemed like a recipe for defeat.

But first-year coach Dalila Eshe’s team delivered a Saturday night stunner by pulling out a 71-70 overtime win at Lavietes Pavilion.

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Columbia women blow out Yale, 97-53, in Ivy opener

Junior guard Abbey Hsu registered 13 points, five rebounds and two assists in 25 minutes in Columbia’s 97-53 rout of Yale Saturday afternoon. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Saturday was just another day at the office for high-flying Columbia women’s basketball.

The Light Blue defeated Yale, 97-53, at John J. Lee Amphitheater before a highly partisan Columbia crowd.

Columbia (12-2, 1-0 Ivy) never trailed in winning its ninth straight contest.

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Yale women can’t complete comeback, fall to Lehigh, 70-63

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.

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Yale women let Syracuse slip away in 60-58 home loss

Give Felisha Legette-Jack a lot of credit. The first-year Syracuse women’s coach brought a power-conference team into John J. Lee Amphitheater to do battle with Yale.

And the Orange escaped with a 60-58 win.

Yale (4-5) dominated the first half, building a 17-8 lead by the 3:53 mark, holding Syracuse (6-2) to 3-for-16 shooting from the field and converting on three of trey attempts. Yale controlled the tempo and forced Syracuse into a slower style of play.

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Yale women deliver Eshe her first win as head coach by besting Fairfield, 68-61

Dalila Eshe got her first win as a head coach with Yale’s win over Fairfield Monday night. (Dalila Eshe Twitter page)

It’s a game that Dalila Eshe will never forget.

Eshe earned her first victory as Yale head coach with a hard fought 68-61 home win over in-state rival and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opponent Fairfield Monday night.

The Bulldogs (1-2) had opened the season with losses at Fordham and St. Joseph’s.

First-year guard Kiley Capstraw poured in 24 points on 6-for-13 shooting from the field.

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