Yale Athletics

Having won three of its final four regular season contests, the Yale women’s basketball team (16–10, 9–5 Ivy) enters postseason play hoping to return home with the league crown. 

In order to achieve this goal, the Bulldogs will first have to try to beat the tournament’s second seed, the Columbia Lions (21–5, 12–2). The teams played each other twice this season, with Columbia winning both contests by scores of 65–55 and 65–57. However, the Yale squad remains confident of its chances against the Lions.

Point guard Jenna Clark ’24, who finished the season one assist shy of the program record, explained the team’s mindset heading into the tournament.“I think the losses just fuel us to get the win,” the sophomore guard said. “We know Columbia’s a great team, but we know our potential and think that we can beat every team in the league. It’ll be an awesome matchup that we’re all excited for.”

The game will likely be decided by the team that can dictate the pace of the game. Forward Camilla Emsbo ’23 is the focal point of the Bulldogs’ offense, averaging 14.3 points and 10 rebounds per game. In the Bulldogs’ two regular-season matchups against the Lions, Emsbo scored just 15 points total.

If Yale can slow down the game and allow Emsbo to dominate on the interior, then its whole offense can run much smoother as its guards can find more space to get off open shots. 

“I think my team has done a great job getting the ball inside and trusting me to make plays,” Emsbo said. “That has definitely been the main factor in my recent success, and it should be equally important against Columbia.”

The Columbia offense, in contrast, starts with the perimeter play of guard Abby Hsu, who ranked third in the league in points per game and first in three-pointers made per game. Hsu averaged 13 points a game against Yale this season. 

However, the Bulldogs struggled to defend Columbia not just because of Hsu’s actual scoring production, but also because the threat of her shooting stretched their defense. 

“Abbu Hsu is a tremendously talented basketball player who is an elite scorer beyond the arc and in the mid range,”  Yale women’s basketball head coach Allison Guth said. “It is important that we have an awareness of where she is at all times. It will not just be her defender’s job to limit her touches — but the entire group of women on the floor.”

The Bulldogs also struggled to limit Columbia’s transition offense in their previous matchups, as the Lions scored several easy layups on the fastbreak. If Columbia is able to supplement their already-potent offense with free points in transition, it will be very difficult for the Blue and White to pull off the upset.

The Bulldogs know that their transition defense starts with their offensive decision-making. All season long, the Elis have struggled to limit their own turnovers, coughing the ball up 18.7 times per game, the most of any Ivy League team. 

“Most [of our opponents’] transition points come from poor decisions and shot selections made on the offensive end of the floor,” starting shooting guard Christen McCann ’25 said. “By cleaning up our offensive efforts and executing better transition defense in this next game, we should be able to improve in that category.”

In the other semifinal matchup, the Princeton Tigers (22–4, 14–0) will face off against the Harvard Crimson (13–13, 7–7). Top-seeded Princeton, currently ranked 24th in the country in the Associated Press Poll and undefeated in conference play, enters the tournament as the heavy favorites. The Tigers won all of their league games by double digits, and only three games by less than 20. 

Yale had the smallest margin of defeat against Princeton in their first matchup, losing by just 12 points. However, the Tigers ran away with the second matchup, winning 74–36.

The Bulldogs know that they cannot dwell on their past performances or their potential opponents. Instead, they are focusing on themselves as they enter the postseason.

“I think we all realize how talented of a team we are and how capable we are of winning,” forward Grace Thybulle ’25 said. “Going into the Ivy tournament I think everyone has a clean slate mindset. What’s happened in the past doesn’t matter because everything can change in these next two days.”

Yale and Columbia will tip off at 7:30 p.m. at Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge, Massachusetts.