Yale Athletics
The women’s basketball team has had a turbulent start to their season.
On Tuesday, Nov. 12, the Yale women’s basketball team (1–3, 0–0 Ivy) traveled to David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex in Hempstead, New York, to face the Hofstra Pride (2–2, 0–0 CAA).
This was the first-ever matchup between Yale and Hofstra. Facing new opponents has been a recurring theme on the 2024 pre-conference schedule, with the previous opponent, Michigan State (5–0, 0–0 B10) also acting as a new foe.
The beginning of a neck-and-neck game between the two opponents began with the first period’s jump ball, which led quickly to a two-pointer by Mackenzie Egger ’25. This would begin a consistent back-and-forth between the Bulldogs and the Pride — neither team inched ahead by any more than three points. Six different Elis contributed to the point total in the first period, a testament to the strength of the bench, and Yale led the game going into the second 14-11.
In the second period, the Bulldogs fashioned together a 16–9 run that brought them to a 30-29 lead with just under two minutes remaining. Avery Lee ’25 had five points and two assists in the 10 minutes. Despite this, the Pride still managed to steal the lead back, capitalizing on four final points going into the half. They would retain this lead for the remainder of the game.
Working to combat Hofstra’s offense, which Lee told the News “[hit] a lot of tough shots,” the team needed to “adjust [their] defensive plan to get a better match up.”
“Our plan was to limit the rebounds and second chance opportunities for Hofstra,” she said. “We also wanted to really execute our offense.”
The third period was all Kiley Capstraw ’26. After Grace Thybulle ’25 notched two jumpers in a row, Capstraw followed her teammate with a layup and a three-pointer of her own. A little later into the period, Capstraw would put up another signature three-pointer to cut into Hofstra’s deficit. She led her team over the course of the game with 17 total points.
The fourth period saw the Pride extend a lead the Bulldogs could not crawl back from. Hofstra led by sixteen at the start of the fourth, until Ke’iara Odume ’28 cut it back down to fourteen. At the very end of the final quarter, Yale kept the basketball on offense, taking four shots off three rebounds but coming up unsuccessful on all attempts.
At the final buzz of the clock, Hofstra had come up victorious against a Yale team that had fought valiantly but had just not done enough. The final score read 61-75.
The bench provided a boost for the Yale starters, with 19 points coming from the hands of substitutions. Odume had 13 points, and Lee had 11. Thybulle had 10 points and 8 rebounds.
The Bulldogs then returned home to John J. Lee Amphitheater on Friday, gearing up to host the Stony Brook Seawolves (2–1, 0–0 CAA), their fourth matchup of the 2024-2025 season.
The contest looked to name a winner of a tie that has developed over the past four years, with the Seawolves and the Bulldogs having beaten each other twice. It was also the celebration of the team’s Pride Night, marked by the flags hung from the balcony and the rainbow shooting shirts the Bulldogs donned.
The first period began with the leaping Thybulle, who won the jump ball and secured the first points of the game off a rebound and layup. In a high-intensity 10 minutes, the Bulldogs looked excellent from the get-go, continually sending Stony Brook onto the backs of their heels. Halfway through, this fervor turned into physicality when Odume ran off the court with a bloody nose. She returned moments later, her nose plugged with a white cloth.
Yale maximized their lead at seven points just before the two-minute mark, which turned out to be enough time for Stony Brook to wreak havoc on the Bulldogs’ pace of play. Two turnovers and multiple misplays led to a frantic Yale offense, which turned into a futile defense. The bell saved the Elis’ panicked play as the clock fell to zero with the Seawolves still in possession. The end of the first saw the Bulldogs hold on to their lead, 14-11.
As the second period rolled around, Stony Brook came out hot, capitalizing on the momentum gained from their previous work. With five unanswered points out of the gate, the Seawolves immediately took the lead back. Creative offensive work by Marisa Chapman ’28 and defensive blocks by Thybulle were not enough to propel the Bulldogs past the hurdle that was Janay Brantley. Brantley, who seemed indefensible, had 8 points in a row for Stony Brook’s offense, including two three-pointers. Her basket work, coupled with help from her teammates, put the Seawolves in excellent position going into the half, leading the Bulldogs 22-33.
Early in the third period, Stony Brook established a 15-point lead that the Bulldogs had to chip away at. Though the offense found shot openings, Yale often failed to capitalize, putting themselves in a deeper hole and giving Stony Brook the clock advantage.
When the News spoke to Head Coach Dalila Eshe after, this is exactly what she echoed.
“We have a very young team, and I feel like right now we are not equipped to handle adversity,” she said.
“[Stony Brook] went on a large run, and we are not a high-powered offensive team, so we cannot match point-for-point. Honestly, our team gets frazzled, and they have a hard time settling back down into the game. So when they finally do, the deficit is such a large gap that now we don’t have the firepower to make up the gap.”
With just over two minutes to go in the third, yet another first-year found herself the victim of the physical matchup before her when Abigail Long ’28 went flying across the court and landed on her nose. Similarly to Odume, the battle continued with another Bulldog’s nose plugged. Long took her free throws directly after Seawolf Breauna Ware, whose intentional foul coincided with hers.
The third period ended with a loud Capstraw: “Pick it up,” she emphasized to her teammates.
At the beginning of the fourth period, the score — 32-46 Seawolves — foretold a future the Bulldogs desperately wanted to avoid. Working hard to skirt this, Long posted a jumper early in the 10-minute period, though it was shortly followed by a decisive Seawolf two-pointer. Halfway through the final period, Yale began to press. This put about as much pressure on the Bulldogs as it was designed to put on the Seawolves, who took advantage of miscommunications, turnovers and fouls to keep Yale at an arm’s length.
Despite employing the tried-and-true method of stopping the clock by fouling the other team, the Bulldogs could not outplay an aggressive and offensively dominant Stony Brook team. The final score of the night was 48–62.
Thybulle ended the game leading her team in all categories: 13 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks.
“I thought Grace had a really, really solid game, which I think she carried over from the Hofstra game,” Eshe told the News. “She’s been playing really solid basketball for us — honestly for me, our two post players, Grace and Mac, are very consistent … right now it’s our guard play. In college basketball, you’re as good as your guards are. Our guards are young, we have a new point guard, losing Jenna [Clark ’24] is a big impact, we’re just trying to figure it out. We have got to grow quickly because we have to rely on our freshman guards.”
Yale women’s basketball faces Merrimack (2–2, 0–0 MAA) on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. at home.
