Davis, Okafor Lead Brownout
Jan. 13, 2007
NEW HAVEN, Conn.--Erica Davis and Chinenye Okafor each posted a double-double, as the Yale women's basketball team (8-7, 1-0 Ivy) kept on rolling with a 69-49 victory over Brown (2-13, 0-1 Ivy) Saturday afternoon at the John J. Lee Amphitheater in the Ivy League opener for each team. Davis had 21 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks, while Okafor added 10 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and five steals in the win, Yale's sixth straight.
Yale came out cold, missing its first eight shots. Brown couldn't capitalize, however, only building a 4-0 lead after the first 3:11. The Bulldogs finally scored on a Davis layup at the 16:39 mark, then took an 8-6 lead on back-to-back three-pointers by Melissa Colborne and Jamie Van Horne.
The Bears went in front 16-13 on a Lena McAfee layup with 10:03 remaining in the half, but Yale charged back to take an 18-16 lead. After a Lindsay Walls layup tied the score at 18-18 with 6:23 remaining in the period, Brown didn't score the rest of the half. Yale ended the stanza on a 13-0 run and took a 31-18 lead into the locker room.
"That was when the game was decided," Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach Chris Gobrecht said. "We did a good job handling Brown's pressure. That aggressive style of play can be hard to score against."
The Bulldogs continued their onslaught in the second half, opening the frame on a 13-5 clip that brought the lead to 21 points, 44-23, with 14:54 remaining. The lead reached a game-high 27 when a Brittani Nichols trey made it 56-29 with 8:53 left. Brown tried to climb back in it, but could get no closer than 13 the rest of the way. Yale's reserves played the last several minutes, and a three by Jacqueline Erickson, who had missed the previous four games with a lower back injury, capped the 69-49 win.
Colborne tallied nine points for the Bulldogs, and Stephanie Marciano added seven points, five assists and three steals. Yale shot 34.8 percent (23-of-66) from the field, 27.8 percent (5-of-18) from behind the arc, and 81.8 percent (18-of-22) from the charity stripe.
The Bulldogs grabbed a season-high 53 rebounds, including 25 on the offensive end, and held a 53-35 advantage on the boards. Yale outrebounded Brown 31-13 in the second half after each team pulled down 22 boards in the first 20 minutes. Yale forced 28 Brown turnovers and tied a season-high with 16 steals.
"They went small, which was tough on us defensively," Gobrecht said, "but we dominated in the paint. They had a really hard time handling Erica."
Shae Fitzpatrick was the only Bear in double figures with 12 points. Ashley King-Bischof, Brown's leading scorer coming in, was limited to seven points. King-Bischof and McAfee each had a team-high seven rebounds. Brown shot 32.1 percent (17-of-53) from the field and 33.3 percent (2-of-6) from three-point range. The Bears went 13-for-25 (52 percent) from the free throw line, including just 9-for-20 (45 percent) in the second half.
The teams meet again in Providence next Saturday at 4 p.m.
"We realize we'll be facing a different team next week," Gobrecht said. "Next week's going to be tough."
NOTES: Yale won its Ivy League opener for the first time since 2001-02...Brown had won nine straight against Yale...The Bulldogs held the Bears under 50 points for the first time since Jan. 27, 1990, a 49-47 Yale victory...The Bulldogs are above .500 for the first time since finishing the 2001-02 season with a 14-13 record...All 14 Bulldogs played, and 12 Yale players scored.
Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity
