NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Coming off of a convincing
67-43 victory over Brown on Friday night, the Yale women’s
basketball team looks to keep firing on all cylinders as Ivy League
play continues at Penn and Princeton. After splitting their
home-and-home series with the Bears, the Bulldogs enter the first
full weekend of Ancient Eight competition at 6-10 overall and 1-1
in Ivy League play. This weekend, action from the Palestra in
Philadelphia will tip off on Friday at 7 p.m., while Jadwin Gym in
Princeton, N.J. hosts a 6 p.m. contest with the Tigers on
Saturday.
Last Time Out
Ten different players scored for the Bulldogs, led by 11 points
each from junior Yoyo Greenfield and sophomore Michelle Cashen, as
Yale ran past Brown on Jan. 22 by a score of 67-43. Yale committed
a season-low 13 turnovers, finishing the game with no miscues over
the final 10:17. Joining Greenfield and Cashen in double figures
was senior Haywood Wright, who netted 10 points. Freshman Megan
Vasquez, the Bulldogs’ leading scorer in 2009-10, had eight
points and hauled in a career-best nine rebounds. Senior Melissa
Colborne also poured in eight points, while junior Mady Gobrecht
and freshman Michelle Cashen each tallied six. Gobrecht also pulled
down eight rebounds as Yale was barely edged on the glass, 42-41.
Junior Victoria Perez had three points for Yale, and senior captain
Ashley Carter and freshman Ericka von Kaeppler rounded out the
Bulldogs’ scoring effort with two points apiece.
Scouting Penn
Currently sitting at 1-14 overall and 0-1 in the Ivy League, the
Penn Quakers enter the weekend on a five-game losing streak. The
Quakers, who lost handily to Princeton, 70-39, in their first Ivy
League contest of 2009-10, are led offensively by 10.0 points per
game from Sarah Bucar. Bucar is also among the Ivy League leaders
in three-point shooting, draining 1.7 triples per game, while Jess
Knapp leads the way on the glass with 6.8 boards per game. Penn and
Yale did not play any common opponents in the non-conference
season.
Last Meeting
The Bulldogs hosted and defeated Penn on Feb. 27. 2009 to salvage a
split of the season series with the Quakers. Eight different
Bulldogs netted a field goal in the 61-51 win, led by Mady Gobrecht
and Yoyo Greenfield with 14 points each. Gobrecht grabbed eight
rebounds to go along with her 14 points, while Greenfield reached
double figures via a 7-for-9 day at the free throw line, including
a 4-for-4 performance in the final minute to preserve the Yale
victory. Joining Gobrecht and Greenfield in double figures was
Melissa Colborne, who netted 10 points while also hauling in seven
rebounds and distributing a game-high five assists. Michelle
Cashen, making her first career start, led the Bulldogs with 10
rebounds.
Series History
Last season’s home-and-home split saw Penn maintain its
two-game cushion in the all-time series, which the Quakers lead by
a 33-31 tally. The season series has been split in three of Coach
Gobrecht’s four previous seasons at Yale, with Penn
disrupting that trend by taking both games in 2006-07.
Scouting Princeton
One of the favorites to claim the 2009-10 Ivy League Championship,
Princeton currently sits at 13-2 overall and 1-0 in Ancient Eight
play after downing Penn, 70-39, on Jan. 9. The Tigers, winners of
eight straight games entering the first full weekend of Ivy play,
boast three players among the league’s top 10 in scoring:
Niveen Rasheed (2nd, 16.9 ppg), Lauren Edwards (5th, 12.9) and
Addie Micir (6th, 12.4). Rasheed, a freshman, also rates third in
the Ivy League in rebounding with 7.9 boards per contest. Devona
Allgood has also been a threat for the Tigers, averaging 10.2
points per game while also hauling in 7.6 rebounds per outing.
Princeton and Yale did not play any common opponents in the
non-conference season.
Last Meeting
Despite double-figure scoring performances from Melissa Colborne
and Yoyo Greenfield, Yale fell to visiting Princeton on Feb. 28,
2009 at the John J. Lee Amphitheater by a score of 61-53. Colborne
netted 16 to lead the Bulldogs, while Greenfield added 13 points.
Mady Gobrecht hauled in 10 rebounds to lead the Yale effort on the
glass, and Michelle Cashen netted eight points and grabbed seven
boards.
Series History
Including last season’s split, which saw the road team win
both encounters, Princeton holds a 41-30 edge in the all-time
series. The Tigers and Bulldogs have split the home-and-home series
in each of the last three seasons.
Doing It With Defense
In all six of their victories this season, the Bulldogs have held
their opponents to just 60 points or fewer. Yale surrendered less
than 20 points in the first half of wins against Army (15) and
Bucknell (19) and limited Brown to just 19 points in the second
half of a 67-43 victory on Jan. 22. UC Davis and Brown (first
meeting, Jan. 15 in Providence) also tallied just 60 points against
Yale, though both squads managed to hold off the Bulldogs and claim
victory.
Freshman Phenom
Freshman Megan Vasquez, who leads Yale with 11.3 points per game in
2009-10, earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors for the second
time this season after posting 13.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per
game in two contests last week. Thus far in 2009-10, Vasquez has
made five starts in 16 games and averages 26.0 minutes of action
per contest. In addition to her team-best scoring output, which
ranks her third among Ivy League freshmen and 11th in the Ancient
Eight overall, she ranks sixth in the league in free throw
percentage (.750) and 20th in rebounding (4.4 rpg). Vasquez has
scored in double figures 11 times this season, including a string
of nine straight games from Dec. 9 to Jan. 18. Vasquez previously
earned Rookie of the Week laurels after averaging 16.0 points in
road contests against Sacred Heart and Kansas State, two teams that
qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season.
No Sophomore Slump
Sophomore Michelle Cashen, a 2008-09 All-Ivy Rookie Team selection,
has been one of the Bulldogs’ most consistent players this
season. Cashen is currently one of five Yale players averaging over
8.0 points per game (8.2 ppg) and is the Bulldogs’ top
rebounder with 7.4 boards per contest, slotting her at sixth in the
Ivy League on the glass. The sophomore, who is also among the
Ancient Eight’s best at the free throw line with a .771
shooting percentage, has tallied three double-doubles in
2009-10.
Block Parties
Junior Mady Gobrecht blocked a career-best six shots in the
Bulldogs’ 68-58 win at NJIT on Jan. 9. Gobrecht, who ranks
third in the Ivy League with 1.4 blocked shots per game, accounted
for the most blocks by a Yale player since Erica Davis ’07
turned back seven Sacred Heart offerings on Nov. 25, 2006. Senior
Haywood Wright, the third-most prolific shot blocker in Yale
history with 101 in her career, swatted five shots in the
Bulldogs’ next contest at Brown on Jan. 15.
Climbing the Ladder
Two-time All-Ivy honoree Melissa Colborne is once again one of
Yale’s offensive pacesetters in 2009-10 with 8.6 points per
game. The senior, who ranked second in the Ivy League in scoring in
each of the last two seasons, currently ranks seventh in Yale
history with 1,309 career points. The former Ivy League Rookie of
the Year has already eclipsed the Yale program records for free
throws made in a game (14), a season (156), a career (451) and in a
game without a miss (12-for-12), as well as for free throw attempts
in a career (593). Colborne’s career free throw percentage of
.761 is among the best in Yale history.
Spreading the Wealth
Though only no Yale player ranks among the top 10 scorers in the
Ivy League, the Bulldogs boast the only roster in the Ancient Eight
with five active players averaging over 8.0 points per game. The
Bulldogs, who have nine active players playing at least 10 minutes
per game, have had five different players lead them in scoring and
six different players lead the way in rebounding this season.
New Haven? Where’s That?
The Bulldogs ushered out 2009 and welcomed in 2010 with seven
consecutive games away from the familiar confines of the John J.
Lee Amphitheater. Yale’s 33-day hiatus from action in the Elm
City, which started in nearby Hamden, Conn. at Quinnipiac and
ranged as far west as Boulder, Colo., spanned five states and three
time zones. The Bulldogs also went 33 days without a home game last
season, a stretch spanning six games from Nov. 18 to Dec. 21,
2008.
Schedule Strength
The 2009-10 Yale squad has challenged 2008-09 NCAA Regional
Finalist Arizona State (L, 82-46) and NCAA Second Round participant
Kansas State (L, 78-59) as well as 2008-09 conference champions
Sacred Heart (L, 76-67) and North Carolina A&T (L, 80-79),
which needed a buzzer beater to sneak past the Bulldogs on Nov. 28.
Ivy League rival Dartmouth, last season’s Ancient Eight
champion, will host Yale on Feb. 13 and will visit the John J. Lee
Amphitheater on Feb. 26.
Picking on the Patriot
The Bulldogs went 3-0 against Patriot League foes this season,
besting Holy Cross, Army and Bucknell. Yale was 1-2 against the
same trio of opponents last season, posting a win at Holy Cross
while dropping one-possession decisions to both the Bison (73-70)
and Black Knights (62-60).
Double Double-Doubles
Sophomore Michelle Cashen (13 pts., 15 rebs.) and junior Mady
Gobrecht (12 pts., 10 rebs.) both posted double-doubles in the
Bulldogs’ season-opening victory over Holy Cross on Nov. 13.
The last time two Yale players had double-doubles in the same game
was on Jan. 13, 2007, when Erica Davis ’07 (21 pts., 11
rebs.) and Chinenye Okafor ’07 (10 pts., 13 rebs.) each
performed the feat against Brown.
A Sign of Things to Come
With 15 points in the season-opening win against Holy Cross on Nov.
13, Megan Vasquez became the first freshman to lead Yale in scoring
in her collegiate debut since Kaitlyn Lillemoe ’09 scored a
team-best 19 points against New Hampshire to open the 2005-06
season.
Branches on the Coaching Tree
Chris Gobrecht was very familiar with her counterparts on the
Arizona State bench on Nov. 19. Charli Turner Thorne, the head
coach of the Sun Devils, was an assistant on Gobrecht’s staff
at the University of Washington. In addition, Arizona State
Associate Head Coach Meg (Gallagher) Sanders played collegiately on
Gobrecht’s Cal State Fullerton squad from 1982-85.
That’s a Lot of W’s
With 460 wins in her career entering 2009-10, Chris Gobrecht ranks
30th among active Division I coaches in all-time victories. Among
coaches on Yale’s 2009-10 schedule, only Bill Gibbons of Holy
Cross (476 wins) has more career victories than Gobrecht. Gobrecht
and Gibbons are both topped, however, by another coach from the
Yale sidelines: Associate Head Coach Dianne Nolan, who amassed 517
wins as head coach of St. Francis (N.Y.) and Fairfield.
Making the Rounds
The Bulldogs’ 14 non-conference games featured teams from
nine different conferences: America East, Big 12, Big West, Great
West, Mid-American, Mid-Eastern Athletic, Northeast, Pac-10 and
Patriot. Additionally, Bryant is a Division I Independent in its
probationary period (ineligible for postseason play) with the
Northeast Conference.
Every Day is Mother’s Day
Junior forward Mady Gobrecht is the daughter of head coach Chris
Gobrecht. They are one of two active mother-daughter, coach-player
tandems in Division I women’s basketball (Southern
Mississippi: Coach Joye Lee-McNelis and Whitney McNelis). This is
the sixth time in Yale’s 156-year athletic history that a
head coach is mentoring his or her child in a varsity sport, and
the first where the combo is mother-daughter (men’s fencing:
Robert & Maurice Grasson, 1936-38; baseball: Smoky Joe &
Joseph Wood, 1939-41; men’s basketball: Howard & David
Hobson, 1952-55; men’s squash: John & Jack Skillman,
1954-55; football: Jordan & Harry Olivar, 1957-59).
The Empire (State) Strikes Back
The Bulldogs return home next weekend as the Ivy League’s New
York contingent visits the John J. Lee Amphitheater. Cornell treks
the Elm City on Friday, Feb. 5 for a 7 p.m. showdown, and Columbia,
which travels to Brown on Friday, will challenge the Bulldogs on
Saturday, Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. Both games will feature live stats as
well as streaming audio and video via Yale All-Access.
report filed by Drew M. Kingsley, Yale Sports Publicity
