The women's basketball team (3-13, 1-1 Ivy) went into the weekend looking to extend a two-game winning streak on Friday, but instead suffered a loss, 71-37, when the Bears hosted Yale (8-8, 1-1 Ivy).
The Bulldogs came out strong, looking to avenge their 64-62 loss at home to Brown the previous weekend. Brown was able to match Yale's energy and pace at the beginning of the game, but as the first half continued, Bruno was unable to contain the Bulldogs' offensive attack. Eight minutes into the game, Yale went up 11-9 and never relinquished that lead for the rest of the contest. The Bulldogs extended their lead to 15 by halftime despite a strong effort from Sadiea Williams '11, who tried to keep the Bears within striking distance. Williams had three rebounds and seven of her team-high 12 points in the first half.
"Our team has been working really hard at getting each other open to score and getting good ball movement to open up the floor," Williams said. Against Yale, Brown "made the extra pass and stretched out the defense to allow not only me, but others, to score."
Brown finished off the first half shooting 22.6 percent from the field. Going into the second half, the Bears looked to overcome their shooting slump by pressuring the ball, forcing more turnovers and creating better shot opportunities.
"We needed to up the pressure in the second half and come out of the poor shooting first half," said Head Coach Jean Burr. "We weren't putting enough pressure on the ball."
The Bears could not get an offensive flow going in the second half as they continued to struggle from the field. The ball would not fall for Brown as they shot just 20 percent from the field in the second half, while Yale continued to convert opportunities at the offensive end, finishing the game at 41.7 percent from the field.
Yale also had several second-chance opportunities on the offensive side of the ball as they grabbed 15 offensive rebounds in a game where the Bears were out-rebounded 47-32. Burr attributed this in part to questionable calls by the officials and an overly timid mindset for Brown in what quickly became a very aggressive game.
The Bulldogs "were very physical with us and the officials were letting it go and we didn't handle it well. We weren't able to get into our presses or control the tempo," Burr said. "Because we weren't scoring, we needed to get into a more offensive flow. We needed to attack the basket. Yale was very physical and we retreated a little bit."
The strong physical play by the Bulldogs forced Brown into 28 turnovers on the night and the Bears were unable to consistently get high-percentage shot opportunities. Turnovers have been a thorn in the side of the Bears all season long.
"Turnovers have been plaguing us. Against Yale we had too many turnovers, and it's incredibly hard to win a game with that many turnovers," Williams said. "We need to play one opponent. Against Yale, we were playing two: them and us. We need to stop the turnovers and get more rebounds. Those are controllable things and I think that they are very attainable."
The Bears will look to get back in the winning column this weekend when they host Ivy League opponents Cornell (5-9, 1-1 Ivy) and Columbia (8-8, 1-1 Ivy).
"I feel that we come in with lots of experience. We can score, we have balance and we are developed as a team and ready to go. We must keep the fight and hustle and focus," Burr said.
