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On Saturday, the Yale women’s basketball team (15–10, 8–5 Ivy) will travel up to Providence for its season finale against Brown (6–19, 1–12). 

Although the Bulldogs have clinched their spot in Ivy Madness and the Bears are eliminated from postseason contention, both teams will be looking to finish their season on a high note. The Bulldogs will enter the game following a dominant senior day win at home against Cornell last weekend. 

“We have a tremendous amount of respect for Brown and the level that they can play at,” Bulldogs head coach Allison Guth said in an interview. “They’re a very hot three-point shooting team. So, I think we’ll have enough attention on taking care of business, and then we’ll start looking forward to the postseason and who we’ll be matching up against there.”

Despite the Bears’ lackluster record in league play this season, the Bulldogs know better than to overlook their opponents. When the two teams faced off against each other earlier this season, Yale eked out a 69–67 victory on a buzzer-beater layup by Christen McCann ’25.

Besides hitting the game-winning shot, McCann had a stellar game the last time the two teams played. She finished with career-high marks in points (19), field-goal percentage (78 percent) and three-point percentage (75 percent). The first-year guard will look to duplicate her effort on Saturday. 

However, the Florida native will likely have her hands full on the other end of the court. McCann, who often takes on the challenge of locking down the opposing team’s leading scorer, will look to slow down Brown’s Isabella Mauricio, whose 14.6 points per game ranks fifth in the conference. In their January matchup, Mauricio torched the Elis to the tune of 23 points on just 14 shots to go along with six assists and four rebounds. 

Mauricio’s fellow guards Charlotte Jewell and Kyla Jones combined to add on 28 more points, as Brown’s five-out offense posed a great challenge for the Bulldogs’ normally stout defense. The Bears successfully managed to drag Yale’s rim-protecting center, Alex Cade ’22, away from the basket and forced her to guard perimeter scorers. 

With the memory of the two teams’ previous battle in mind, point guard Jenna Clark ’24 spoke about the team’s mindset as they head into their season finale.

“It was a close game last time and we know this is a tough team whose record doesn’t speak for the talent they have,” Clark said. “We just have to play our game and have a great few days of preparation before the game.” 

Camilla Emsbo ’23, who leads the Bulldogs with 14 points, 10 rebounds and over two blocks per game, also missed the last matchup with an injury. She will be looking to conclude her stellar junior year campaign with a final dominant performance in Providence.

First-year forward Grace Thybulle ’25 explained how the Bulldogs will be able to replicate their performance from last time, while also taking advantage of having Emsbo back in the fold.

“With Brown, I would just say that we’ve emphasized the importance of being the grittier team and outworking them,” Thybulle said. “They’ve beaten good teams and they played us close the first time but if we just lock in and execute, I think we’ll be good. Also, we’re all excited that [Emsbo] will be back in this game since we had to play without her the first time. I don’t think they’ll have an answer for our post presence.”

While the Bulldogs have already punched their ticket to the conference tournament in Cambridge, their seeding has not been decided yet. A win against Brown or a Harvard (12–12, 6–6) loss in any of their final three games, will secure the third seed for the Elis. 

Finishing in third instead of fourth makes a big difference this year, as the latter will have a first-round date with the top-seeded Princeton Tigers (20–4, 12–0), who are No. 26 in the country and have not dropped an Ivy League game since Feb. 8, 2019. 

Yale’s Saturday matchup against Brown will tip off at 2 pm.