March 3, 2007

Box Score

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--Erica Davis and Chinenye Okafor were sent out in style. Yale's seniors combined for 17 points and 11 rebounds, as the Bulldogs (12-16, 5-9 Ivy) snapped their five-game losing streak with a 64-49 victory over Princeton (12-15, 6-7 Ivy) Saturday night at the John J. Lee Amphitheater. Davis was limited to just 13 minutes due to foul trouble, but still finished with 11 points and six boards. Okafor posted six points and five rebounds in her final game for the Bulldogs.

"Chinenye Okafor makes a huge difference," Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach Chris Gobrecht said. "This is the first time she's been able to play two games really hard since her injury. After she came in last night, we outscored two of the best offensive teams in this league (Penn and Princeton) pretty badly with her in there."

Meagan Cowher scored Princeton's first eight points, but the Bulldogs went toe-to-toe with the Tigers' star and the game was tied at 8-8 after the first 4:13. From there, Yale took over, going on a 17-4 run over the next 7:22 to open up a 25-12 lead with 8:23 left in the half. The Bulldogs' lead was never challenged the rest of the way, and Yale went into the locker room with a 34-23 advantage.

Okafor and Davis scored the first two buckets of the second half to bring the lead to 15 at 38-23. Princeton got the lead under 10 only once, when a Whitney Downs jumper made it 46-37 with 11:19 remaining. Melissa Colborne and Sara McCollum promptly tallied back-to-back baskets to bring the Bulldogs' edge back to 13 at 52-39. The lead reached 17 when Haywood Wright's turnaround jumper in the paint made it 64-47 with 1:15 to go. Cowher made a pair of free throws to round out the scoring.

Chinenye Okafor

Colborne led the Bulldogs with 15 points, and McCollum added 10. Stephanie Marciano tallied nine points, seven assists, six rebounds and two steals. Yale shot 46.2 percent (24-of-52) from the field and, after making three treys combined in its last three games, shot 30 percent (3-of-10) from behind the arc. Yale shot 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from the free throw line. The Bulldogs committed season lows with 12 turnovers and 13 fouls.

Downs led Princeton with 17 points off the bench. Cowher added 12 points and five rebounds. Elizabeth Pietrzak tallied a game-high seven boards for the Tigers, who outrebounded the Bulldogs 32-29. Princeton shot 44.7 percent (21-of-47) from the field and 14.3 percent (1-of-7) from three-point range. The Tigers went to the free throw line just eight times, and made six (75 percent).

With the victory, the Bulldogs guaranteed themselves sixth place in the Ivy League. The sixth-place finish is Yale's best since 2003-04, when the team also went 5-9 in League play. The Bulldogs posted their most wins in a season since posting 14 victories in 2001-02. Yale was also the only Ivy team to beat conference champion Harvard this season.

"This season was a huge step forward," Gobrecht said. "It's good that we're disappointed (with the 5-9 Ivy record). We wanted to contend."

NOTES: The Bulldogs tied the school record by playing in their 28th game of the season...Okafor played in her 100th career game on Saturday night...Davis finished her career seventh in scoring (1,262), fifth in rebounding (670), fourth in field goal percentage (.497) and first in blocks (182)...She is also Yale's single-game record holder for points (36) and blocks (9)...Yale held its opponent under 50 points for the fourth time this season...The win snapped Yale's five-game losing streak against Princeton...The Bulldogs quadrupled last season's win total.

Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity