Box Score NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Sacred Heart women's basketball team suffered an 87-40 setback to Yale in non-conference play this afternoon. The Pioneers drop their fourth straight to move to 3-7 while the Bulldogs vault to 7-3 on the season.
Yale blitzed the Pioneers all afternoon long, shooting 22-for-34 (64.7 percent) in the first half including a 13-for-16 (81.3 percent) effort in the second quarter alone to build a 53-23 halftime advantage, on their way to the convincing 47-point win.
Sonia Smith led the Pioneers with eight points to go along with five rebounds and three steals in a team-high 31 minutes of play. Olivia Dabney hit both of her three-point attempts as she finished with six points and five rebounds while Jayla Davis also scored six in just 16 minutes. Carly Stroemel tallied four points and six rebounds in her first career start for SHU.
SHU's defense kept Yale at-bay for the first few minutes of play, as the Bulldogs led 4-0 after the first three-plus minutes, but the Pioneers couldn't take advantage on the offensive end as Yale later hit a three to force an early SHU timeout just 3:14 into play.
The timeout helped SHU initially as Dabney hit a triple at the top of the key for the first Pioneer points of the game while Davis banked in a jumper and Jessica Woods converted a great feed from Davis to cut the Yale lead to 13-7.
The six-point margin, however, was the closest SHU would get to the lead for the remainder of play as the Bulldogs led 24-12 after the first quarter.
The three-point shot was falling for the Pioneers in the second quarter, as SHU scored nine of their 11 points in the frame from behind the arc, but the Bulldogs put on a clinic on the offensive end as Yale outscored SHU 29-11 in the period to take the 30-point halftime lead.
SHU performed better defensively in the second half, limiting the Bulldogs to below 40 percent shooting in the third quarter, but the margin was too much to overcome in the final margin.
Camilla Emsbo dominated for the Bulldogs, finishing with 23 points on 11-for-13 shooting to go along with nine rebounds in just 23 minutes. Klara Astrom (13), Roxy Barahman (11), Ellen Margaret Andrews (11) and Alex Cade (10) all finished in double figures to lead Yale.
The Pioneers finish up non-conference play with a trip to Penn State for a Noon tip-off on Sunday.
