Friday's loss marks only the second time in League history that the Bulldogs (12-14, 7-5 Ivy) have swept the season series against the Big Green (11-14, 6-5 Ivy).
"Yale came out strong in the first half, and we did not match their intensity as well as we should have," Margaret Smith '10 said. "We perform better when we have a strong start."
Dartmouth fell short against Yale earlier in the season in a double-overtime thriller, 70-66, on Feb. 13.
The Big Green's defeat, coupled with Princeton University's (23-2, 11-0 Ivy) victory over Cornell on Friday, gives the Tigers a five-game lead over Dartmouth with four regular season games remaining, knocking the women's squad out of the title race.
Princeton, currently undefeated in Ivy play, is just one win away from clinching a share of the Ivy crown.
Hoping to notch consecutive wins for the first time since Jan. 29, the Big Green looked for a much-needed momentum boost against Yale on Friday.
A Dartmouth offensive drought in the first half, however, left the Big Green out to dry and allowed the Bulldogs to pull away early.
The first 20 minutes were dominated by Yale. The Bulldogs ran up the score to 30-8 with less than five minutes remaining in the first half before the Big Green showed signs of life with a 7-2 run that cut the lead to 17 at halftime.
In the second half, Dartmouth found modest success from the field in the opening minutes, with Brittney Smith '11 leading a short-lived 8-2 run.
The Bulldogs, however, promptly answered with a 7-0 run of their own that gave the home team its biggest lead of the night at 41-23.
"Yale came out extremely focused in the first half against us," Meghan McFee '11 said. "They were hitting their shots and capitalizing on plays, while we struggled to get our shots to fall."
Though tightening down on defense, the Big Green struggled to heat up offensively for much of the period despite a game-high 15 points from Brittney Smith.
"We were going too fast on offense," she said. "On defense, we needed to close out faster on the shooters so they didn't get open looks." Yale was able to keep its double-digit advantage intact for the rest of the game, handily walking away with the win, 58-42.
With its hopes of a winning streak dashed, Dartmouth looked to avoid being swept in a weekend Ivy doubleheader for the first time in over two years.
Against Brown on Saturday, the Big Green shook off its shooting woes with a dominant first half performance from the floor to cruise to its biggest win of the season, 51-29.
The Big Green was dominant from the tip-off and went into halftime on a 17-4 run. Dartmouth shot 54.2 percent from the field in the first half.
"We did shoot very well against Brown, especially in the first half," McFee said. "We had good movement on offense and found the open player. This is the type of motion offense we've been working towards all season."
Leading by 27 at halftime, the Big Green maintained its advantage throughout the second half with consistent shooting and solid rebounding to secure a 22-point victory.
Brittney Smith and Sasha Dosenko '12 both posted 12 points, while Faziah Steen-Ngalamulume '13 and Margaret Smith tallied 11 and 10 points, respectively.
"We'll stick to working on what makes us succeed as a team," McFee said. "As always, we need to make sure we pressure the ball on defense and get the correct rotations."
In its last two home games of the season, the women's squad will look to end Princeton's perfect season at Leede Arena Friday and will square off against the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday night. Both games are slated for 7 p.m. starts.
