Ivy League success continued to elude the women’s basketball team, as the Red dropped contests to Brown and Yale this weekend to remain winless in conference play.
The Red (2-17, 0-6 Ivy) faced Brown (12-6, 4-1 Ivy) on Friday night, and played its best basketball of the weekend in the first half of that game. Although the Bears led by as much as nine points, the Red gave a solid effort and refused to let the Bears open up a big lead. With less than five minutes remaining in the first half, the Red went on a 10-4 run to head into the break down by only two. The Red, which has been plagued by turnovers all season, only gave up the ball six times in the first half.
However, the Red came out flat in the second frame and was unable to settle down as Brown poured on eight unaswered points to go ahead, 41-31.
“No one really wanted to shoot,” said sophomore Amy Lyon. “We were getting open looks but didn’t finish it. Everyone was looking at everyone else to shoot.”
The Bears, who rank 15th in the nation with 12.2 steals per game, turned up the pressure in the second half and forced the Red into 17 turnovers. With 11 minutes remaining, the Bears found themselves ahead by nine. Brown put the game away with a 9-1 run, and held off the Red for the 64-46 victory.
“I think we surprised ourselves a little bit,” said sophomore Amy Lyon. “We’ve been pretty prone to turnovers in the first half, and then coach told us we only had six at halftime. We let our guard down and that hurt us. Brown turned up the pressure and we got uptight.”
The Red were unable to shut down senior center Holly Robinson, who posted 18 points and nine rebounds to lead the Bears.
Junior Sarah Hayes, the second-leading scorer for Brown, also found her way around the Red defense for 15 points, eight rebounds, and six steals.
Freshman Lindsey Krasna led the Red with 11 points and 11 rebounds, posting her first career double-double, while Lyon added 11 points of her own.
The Red could not recover the next night, as Yale (4-15, 1-5 Ivy) rode a 51% shooting percentage to a 68-49 victory.
“Yale’s having a rough season and we went in thinking we could get a win,” Lyon said. “It was a combination of everything that happened the night before. There was definitely some sort of letdown. It’s tough playing back to back games — that factor limits what you’re trying to do.”
The Red had difficulty staying in the game, as the Elis raced to an early 19-7 lead behind strong rebounding and inside presence. The Red fought its way back into the game, but was still down 35-24 at the half.
In the second half, the Elis continued to hold onto a comfortable lead. Already up by ten points with 13 minutes left in the game, the Elis went on an 11-0 run to put the game out of reach.
“At the end, we started trading baskets,” Lyon said. “but when you’re trying to come back from 15, 20 points down –to score is not enough, we have to stop them and score ourselves.”
Despite pressuring the Elis into 26 turnovers, the Red could not covert the possessions into points. Cornell shot just 28% from the floor, and committed 23 turnovers of its own. “We missed a lot of open shots,” Lyon said. “We were driving and getting to the line, but our shooting percentage — that’s it right there. Our legs were tired, but you have to be focusing and stepping up and hitting the shots.”
A mismatch in the post gave the Red additional problems, as sophomore center Erica Davis poured in 24 points for Yale. The Red, whose tallest player is 6-1, sufferend in the paint in both games as Robinson, 6-5, and Davis, 6-3, dominated the inside game.
“We are definitely a lot shorter than those girls,” Lyon said. “They don’t necesssarily want it more but they’re a lot bigger. Davis is a tough girl, a big girl — and really skilled. It’s hard to compete with that when your biggest girl is six feet, 6-1.”
Archived article by Olivia Dwyer
Sun Staff Writer