Feb. 4, 2006

Box Score

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Junior center Erica Davis (Columbus, N.J.) took an entry pass from freshman Jamie Van Horne (Healdsburg, Calif.) and hit a jumper from just outside the lane with six seconds left to defeat Penn on Saturday night in Lee Amphitheater. Penn's Jennifer Fleischer had a chance at a jumper in the paint as time expired, but the Bulldog defense didn't give her a clean look and the shot fell harmlessly to the floor. Yale trailed by as many as 20 points in the second half, but a combination of tough defense and timely shooting rallied the Bulldogs to the victory. Davis finished with a game-high 15 points.

The Bulldogs got things started early in the contest, as baskets by Chinenye Okafor (Rolla, Mo.) and Sara McCollum (Old Lyme, Conn.) gave Yale the early lead at 4-0 a minute and a half in. Yale's shooting went cold after the opening burst as Penn went on a 20-0 run that lasted for nearly 10 minutes. Fleischer had four of her team-high 12 points during the span.

Yale recovered from the blitz and went into the locker room with momentum on their side as Stephanie Marciano (Edison, N.J.) drained a three from the right corner as time expired to cut the lead to a manageable 10 points at 29-19.

The Quakers quickly seized control early in the second half, scoring the first 10 points of the stanza. Fleischer was again the catalyst, scoring six points. The run gave Penn their biggest lead of the game, a 39-19 cushion with 15:13 left. That is when the Bulldogs dug in and started to turn the tide.

The Bulldogs responded with five quick points, including a key trifecta from Van Horne. She would finish the game with nine points. The next few minutes saw Penn build the lead back to 17, only to have the Bulldogs crawl back to within 12.

The comeback began in earnest at the eight minute mark Okafor hit a lay-in to cut the lead to 10. From there it only took Yale until the 5:36 mark to reduce the lead to six after another Davis jumper. After a Monica Naltner jumper put the lead at eight, Van Horne hit her second trey of the game to cut the lead to five at 49-44.

Nantler then hit another shot, only to see it equalized by an Okafor lay up just seconds later. Davis then took over, hitting a pair of step-out shots from the right side and all of the sudden Yale trailed by only three with 1:55 left.

After a Rachel Wilson free throw made it a two-possession game with 1:20 left, Van Horne had a chance to bring Yale to within one, but her long three went in-and-out. With things looking desperate if they didn't get a stop, the Bulldog defense once again stepped up and forced a shot clock violation to get the ball back.

Yale ran another play for Van Horne, and this time the freshman buried the straight-away opportunity to make it a one point game with just 21 seconds left. On the ensuing in-bounds play Penn's Joey Rhoads stepped on the sideline, turning the ball over to Yale.

Down by just a point, the Bulldogs set up the play for Davis. After Marciano collected the ball beyond the arc, she fed it to Van Horne who then sent the pass to Davis. Davis caught the ball, rose above the defender and sent the shot home.

Out of timeouts, Penn pushed the ball up court and into the hands of Fleischer, but her shot rolled in and out, preserving the comeback for the Bulldogs.

The win improves Yale to 2-17 on the season and 1-5 in Ivy play. Penn drops to 3-15 and 1-4 in conference.

The Bulldogs return to action on Friday, February 10 at Columbia.