38 of 54 Points Came In The Second Half

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The duo of Tamara Simpson and Nyasha Sarju torched the Princeton defense for a combined 54 points on Friday night, but the Yale women's basketball team could not overcome a 22-point halftime deficit, falling 94-81 to the Tigers in the Lee Amphitheater.

Simpson (North Babylon, N.Y.) shattered her previous career-high of 22 points, while Sarju (Seattle, Wash.) recorded her sixth game with 20-plus points this season. The Bulldogs (11-15, 2-7 Ivy) matched a season-high with 81 points in the loss.

"It's sad our players didn't come to play right from the tip; it's not a characteristic of ours," said Joel E. Smilow '54 head coach Allison Guth. "I thought we dug ourselves a deep hole and you can't do that against a great team like Princeton."

A 22-point hole in the first half was knocked down to as little as eight points with 4:53 left in the game, but the deficit proved to be too much. Yale outscored Princeton in the second half, 53-44, keeping the pressure on the Tigers (18-4, 7-1 Ivy) the whole way.

"Unlike last weekend, today our problem was not coming out strong, but fighting back," said Sarju. "The positive is that we are happy with the way we played in the second half, but you really have to put together four quarters."

Simpson scored 28 points on 11-of-25 shooting – setting two more career-highs in field goals made and attempted. Sarju was 7-of-15 from the field and 9-of-12 from the free throw line.

"Usually the offense is centered around whoever is driving the ball to the hoop, but some plays in the second half were called for us," said Sarju about herself and Simpson. "Tamara kept going to the basket and finishing strong."

Simpson scored 22 of her points in the second half, while Sarju netted 16 in the final two periods. Had it not been for the pair's efforts, the Elis would not have been within striking distance.

"You always want more balance, but we had to get to the hoop and to the free throw line and they are the best at breaking the defense down and getting to the rim," said Guth. "We'd like more equal opportunity scoring, but Tamara and Nyasha both did a hell of a job."

The Tigers built up a 50-28 halftime lead due to a 64.3-percent shooting effort (18-of-28) in the first two quarters. Three players scored in double-figures in the first 20 minutes for Princeton.

The Elis held up well in the first quarter, trailing just 23-18 after the first period. It was a 27-10 second quarter disadvantage that carved a sizable hole for the Bulldogs against the defending Ivy League champion.

"I wasn't pleased with our offensive movement in the first half. We only scored 10 in the second quarter and became really stagnant," said Guth. "We fixed those things at halftime, and played well in the second half, but we didn't take care of business from the start."

In a position where it would have been easy to give up, the Bulldogs came out firing on all cylinders – especially Simpson. The sophomore guard scored 10 points in the first 49 seconds of the third quarter, cutting the lead to 16.

Simpson went on to score 15 points in the third period, cutting the lead to a manageable 70-56 mark. Sarju had eight points of her own in the quarter.

A layup by Simpson with 4:53 left in the game cut the Princeton lead to 76-68, but the Bulldogs would not get closer due to the Tigers' relentless offensive attack. Alex Wheatley scored a team-high 22 points, while Amanda Berntsen had 20 and Michelle Miller had 19.

The Yale defense was as stout as possible, considering Princeton shot 56.9-percent (33-of-58) from the field as a team. The Bulldogs forced the Tigers into 17 turnovers, while having just seven turnovers themselves on offense. Simpson had a game-high four steals.

Senior guard Whitney Wyckoff (West Chester, Ohio) added 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals in the loss for Yale.

"There is never a night-off in the Ivy League and we are always trying to improve. We aren't putting it together for 40 minutes. That'll have to be different tomorrow night against Penn," said Guth.

The Bulldogs host Penn on Saturday night in the Lee Amphitheater, with tip-off set for 7 p.m. The game can be seen on the Ivy League Digital Network, between the Elis and the first-place team in the Ivy League.

Filed by Steve Lewis, Yale Sports Publicity