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Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025

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Women’s Basketball Records Consecutive Two-Point Losses to Yale, Brown

Reading time: about 3 minutes

After winning its first match with Yale on Feb. 8, snapping a five-year losing streak to the Bulldogs, women’s basketball looked to take the second game of the series at home on Friday, Feb. 28. Despite the visitors trailing until nine seconds before the final buzzer, last-minute free throws from Yale (4-22, 3-10 Ivy) caused the Red to fall 48-46.

Though Cornell (7-19, 3-10 Ivy) aimed to redeem itself on Senior Day, a mid-game drought left the Red just short of a win. Brown (11-15, 5-8 Ivy) pulled ahead late in the fourth quarter for a 38-36 victory.

Cornell’s match with Yale began with the Red taking a 4-0 lead in the first four minutes, with the lead switching three times only for the first quarter to end with the score tied up at 10-10. The second quarter saw Cornell pull ahead with an 11-point run, the first nine of which were scored by junior forward Emily Pape. The Red entered halftime six points ahead, 25-19.

Though the Bulldogs challenged the Red with a 10-point run in the third quarter that put Yale within one point of reclaiming an advantage, Cornell responded with a six-point run of its own, and the quarter ended 40-34.

An unraveling of Cornell’s offensive accuracy in the final 10 minutes allowed Yale to edge ahead, with four of the Red’s six points of the quarter taken from the free-throw line. Two minutes before the final buzzer, the Bulldogs came from a 45-42 deficit for a six-point run that a late free throw from senior forward Summer Parker-Hall couldn’t overcome.

The Red saw an even greater breakdown of its scoring capacity against Brown the next day — Brown scored no points off the bench in a low-scoring contest defined by missed opportunities. Cornell began the match by falling behind 12-4 before pulling ahead in the last five minutes of the first quarter to claim a 15-12 lead.

Over the second and third quarters, the team scored a total of nine points, entering the final quarter trailing 31-24. Eight points from Pape and four from Parker-Hall gave the Red a fighting chance, and the score tied up 36-36 with a minute left in play. 

After a foul on Yale’s Isabella Mauricio, sophomore guard Azareya Kilgoe missed both free throws. Pape recovered the rebound, but Kilgoe’s attempted jumper couldn’t find its way in. A foul on Kilgoe gave Grace Arnolie the opportunity to steal the victory with two charity shots, and the last six seconds left the clock without redemption from the Red.

Parker-Hall scored 14 points against Yale and 13 against Brown, topping the Red’s offensive efforts for both games. Pape took 11 in the first match and 10 in the second to follow Parker-Hall.

The Red closes out the 2024-2025 season at Columbia on Saturday, March 8. The Lions took a 69-44 victory during the first match between the teams on Jan. 11 and currently lead the Ivy League.

Coverage will be available on ESPN+.


Alexis Rogers

Alexis Rogers is the sports editor on the 143rd editorial board. She is in the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts & Sciences, and she can be reached at arogers@cornellsun.com.


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