NEW HAVEN – The Big Red women's basketball team used stout defense and a late comeback to gut out a hard-fought 43-41 victory over Yale this evening in Lee Amphitheater. It was the first home loss of the season for the Bulldogs as Cornell won its second in a row to earn its first Ivy League weekend sweep since defeating Yale and Brown on the same weekend in Feb. 2016.
 
Laura Bagwell-Katalinich finished with game-highs in points (17) and rebounds (nine) and Samantha Widmann chipped in 11 points in the low scoring affair. Danielle Jorgenson also added seven points, including five in the decisive fourth quarter.
 
Yale (15-8, 5-3 Ivy) was led by Roxy Barahman's 14 points, but the Big Red defense did a great job of containing her to a 4-of-14 performance from the floor. No other Bulldog had more than six points.
 
Both teams used a smothering defense to limit offensive opportunities and each squad shot below 30 percent for the game. Cornell finished at .288 overall (14-49) and .250 from beyond the arc (2-8), while Yale connected on just .269 from the floor (14-52) and .294 from 3-point range (5-17).
 
The Bulldogs held the slim 40-36 edge on the boards, but Cornell turned the ball over three fewer times (13-10).
 
The Big Red got out to a hot start, shooting better than 40 percent in the first quarter to take a 12-11 lead at the first break, thanks to four points apiece from Bagwell-Katalinch and Widmann. Cornell stretched its lead to 14-11 with the first basket of the second quarter, but the home team responded with an 8-0 run to take the 19-14 lead at the 3:04 mark.
 
A pair of free throws by Widmann ended Cornell's scoring drought of 6:44 and the Big Red closed the gap with some tough defense to cut Yale's lead to 21-18 at the half.  
 
Bagwell-Katalinch knotted the game at 21 apiece early in the third quarter, but back-to-back treys by Tori Andrew and Barahman opened up a 10-0 run to push the home team's lead to double-digits midway through the quarter.
 
Cornell ended the run with a pair of free throws from Bagwell-Katalinich and then used some tough defense and key rebounding to fight its way back into the contest, trailing Yale, 31-30, at the final break after a pair of free throws from Widmann with :04 on the clock.   
 
Yale missed its first shot of the fourth and Jorgenson canned her lone trey of the game to give Cornell its first lead since early in the second quarter. On the next possession, Bagwell-Katalinich came up with a steal and Jorgenson finished at the rim to push the Big Red advantage to 35-31.
 
Back-to-back buckets by the Bulldogs, followed by one free throw from Mackenzie Hewitt, restored the one-point lead to Yale, but a backdoor cut by Caitlyn Smith led to an easy lay-in and put Cornell up, 37-36 with 5:18 to play.
 
After a single made free throw from Barahman knotted the game at 37, Bagwell-Katalinich dove to the hoop and put Cornell up, 39-37. Moment later, a pair of offsetting fouls sent Bagwell-Katalinich and Barahman to the line on alternating possessions and the Cornell forward hit both of hers, while the Bulldog converted just one, and Cornell held the 41-40 lead with 2:10 on the clock.
 
Both teams defenses went to work and neither team scored again until Bagwell-Katalinich hit a pair of free throws to put Cornell up, 43-40, with 11 seconds to play.
 
Yale had one last chance when Andrew was fouled taking a 3-pointer with :03 on the clock. She missed the first, made the second, and intentionally missed the third, but the Bulldogs could not secure the rebound and the Big Red pulled out the 43-41 victory.
 
The Big Red wraps up a four-game road trip when it travels to Princeton and Penn on Friday, Feb. 22 and Saturday, Feb. 23, respectively. Cornell will tip with the Tigers at 5:30 p.m. and the Quakers at 4:30 p.m. as both games are the frontend of a double-header with the Big Red men's basketball team playing in the nightcap.