Women’s basketball drops contest versus Yale

Looking to bounce back after falling to the University of New Hampshire Wednesday night, the Boston University women’s basketball team fell to Yale University, 66-59, in New Haven, Connecticut Saturday afternoon.

Despite coming into Saturday’s game averaging fewer than five points per game, junior guard Clodagh Scannell scored 16 points off the bench. BU (3-5) also received strong offensive performances from sophomore forward Meghan Green, who also registered 16 points and senior forward Mollie McKendrick who added 11 points and shot 5-of-7 from the floor.

Scannell, playing just 27 minutes against the Bulldogs (3-4 ), came out strong in the second half, netting 12 points over the final 20 minutes of play while leading the Terriers in 3-pointers with two treys in the contest.

“We just tried to put her [Clodagh] at different positions. She did a really solid job for us,” said BU coach Katy Steding. “Clo has been searching for an identity within the team. She’s got a great 3-point shot. The coaches and I have been talking to her about using more than the 3-point shot because she does have a pretty complete game.”

The Terriers were down by as many as 12 points during Saturday’s game, yet manufactured a comeback late in the second half, when a layup from McKendrick gave the Terriers a one-point lead at 52-51 with 3:40 left on the clock.

Another layup and a pair of free throws from Scannell gave BU a two-point lead with 2:25 remaining, but Yale would fight back, due to the play of Yale guard Sarah Halejian, who scored 19 points for the Bulldogs, including nine points within the last two minutes of play.

Unfortunately for the Terriers, a foul committed by sophomore guard Sarah Hope gave Yale a three-point play that made it a 59-56 game in favor of the Bulldogs with 1:42 remaining — creating a lead that Yale would not relinquish.

BU shot 48 percent from the field, the team’s highest field-goal percentage of the season, and held Yale just 36 percent shooting from the field and 18.8 percent from beyond the arc.

However, Yale won the battle of the boards, out-rebounding the Terriers by a 40-33 margin, including a 15-5 disparity in offensive rebounds.

“I’ll tell you guys the same thing I told the team. They really outworked us on the boards,” Steding said. “Yale was extra physical. I don’t think that the game came down to that because it was a battle at the end. That toughness on the boards is something that we’re working on daily. We have to get better at that.”

McKendrick and Green had four and six rebounds, respectively, while Yale forward Katie Werner had 10 boards and forward Meredith Boardman added nine rebounds to pace the Bulldogs.

“Again, I think it comes down to finishing plays, and that’s what I told the girls. We’ve got to finish the play,” Steding said. “And rebounding was a big deal. I don’t think they are a better team than us, but I don’t necessarily think we’re better than them. It was going to be a battle either way.”