Yale Athletics

Eight games into the season, the Yale women’s basketball team is 4–4.

Since the start of Thanksgiving break, the Bulldogs (4–4, 0–0 Ivy) have played four games. The Elis beat Maine (3–4, 0–0 America East) on Nov. 19 to start off the break strong.

“We just moved the ball around well and continuously made the right passes and found the open person,” Jenna Clark ’24 wrote. “We were feeling it on offense that night and shot the ball well.”

The next week, Yale traveled to Colorado to play in the University of Denver Classic against New Mexico State University (2–4, 0–0 WAC) and Houston Christian University (3–2, 0–0 Southland). The Bulldogs beat NMSU and lost to HCU. After returning to the East Coast, the Bulldogs played at the University of Massachusetts (7–1, 0–0 Atlantic 10) and fell to the Minutewomen.

In their game at Maine, the Elis outscored their hosts 17–3 in the second quarter to end the first half ahead 30–10. The Bulldogs held off Maine for the rest of the game and won 55–46. Clark led the squad with 15 points and five assists. Elles van Der Maas ’24 scored 11 points and Mackenzie Egger ’25 added 10 more.

In Colorado, at the University of Denver Classic, Yale brought their offensive attack as at least three players scored in double figures in each game.

In the first game against New Mexico State, the Bulldogs won 73–65. Clark and Nyla McGill ’25 each scored 11 points while rookie Kiley Capstraw ’26 led the team with 23. This was Capstraw’s second time this season scoring over 20 points.

“It’s great to have a freshman that can contribute in so many different ways,” Egger said. “She’s going to have a great career at Yale and it’s great to see her grow each game.”

In their next game against Houston Christian, Yale could not pull ahead and fell 68–61. Four Huskies scored in double digits, and guard Kennedy Wilson scored her season-high with twenty points. Wilson was not the only player on the court to put together a career game, however, as Yale received a highlight night from Clark. The junior guard led the Bulldogs in points, rebounds and assists with a stat line of 15–8–5 and earned a career high with eight rebounds.

Leaving Denver, Yale played at UMass on Wednesday night and fell 72–57 to the Minutewomen, who have won six straight games since their early season loss to Tennessee. At the time, the Volunteers were ranked No. 5 in the country.

Against Yale, UMass surged ahead early in the game. The Bulldogs fell behind by 14 points at the end of the first half, and despite season highs in assists from McGill and points from Grace Thybulle ’25, the team could not cut the deficit down in the second half. McGill led the Bulldogs with seven assists and 11 rebounds while Thybulle earned 16 points.

On her season-high performance, Thybulle wrote to the News, “I’ve definitely been in a little bit of a rut prior to this game so I’ve been working with Coach [Dalila Eshe] and my position coach to remedy that. We worked a lot on me using my physicality more efficiently and taking more time around the rim.”

The Bulldogs will next play in Payne Whitney Gymnasium against Syracuse (5–2, 0–0 ACC) at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday.