Jan. 27, 2006

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THE MATCHUP
The Bulldogs look to shake off losses in their first two conference games, when they take on Harvard and Dartmouth over the weekend. The Crimson enter Friday night's contest 4-10 overall and 0-1 in Ivy play after losing their conference opener to Dartmouth on Jan. 7. The Big Green enter the weekend 10-4 overall and 1-0 in Ivy play. Dartmouth hosts Brown on Friday before entertaining the Bulldogs on Saturday.

SERIES HISTORIES
Harvard holds a 33-22 all-time series lead including wins in the last three contests. Yale's last win againt the Crimson came on Valentine's Day 2004, a 62-59 decision in New Haven.

Yale trails Dartmouth 42-14 in the all-time series with the Big Green, taking both meetings last season. The Bulldogs' last victory came on Feb. 28, 2004 when they needed overtime to outlast the Big Green, 78-71 in Hanover.

THE LAST TIME OUT
The Bulldogs fell to Brown in the back end of a home-and-home set, 67-52. The Bears jumped on top early and never looked back, taking the season series for the fourth consecutive season. Chinenye Okafor stayed hot with a team-high 16 points, but Brown's duo of Sarah Hayes and Colleen Kelly combined for 41 of the Bear's 62 points to lead Brown. Erica Davis had another solid performance off the Yale bench, scoring 12 points and grabbing eight rebounds in just 18 minutes of action. She also picked up the 100th block of her career late in the first half.

SCOUTING THE CRIMSON
Harvard is playing its first game in nearly three weeks after an extended break for exams. Prior to the break Harvard fell at home to Dartmouth 91-76 in both teams Ivy opener. The Crimson have only one player averaging double-figures in scoring, senior guard Jessica Holsey. Holsey returned to the lineup against Dartmouth after missing most of the month of December with an injury.She is averaging 10.2 points and 4.2 rebounds this year and was a second team All-Ivy selection a year ago.

SCOUTING THE BIG GREEN
Dartmouth takes on Brown prior to Saturday's matchup with Yale. Before taking on the Bears, the Big Green saw a four-game win streak come to a halt in Raleigh, N.C. at the hands of North Carolina State. Two of the top nine scoreres in the League reside in Hanover in seniors Jeannie Cullen (14.5 ppg, 5th) and Angie Soriaga (12.7, 9th). Soriaga is the primary three-point threat, knocking down 32 treys in 69 attempts.

UP NEXT
Yale returns to the John J. Lee Amphitheater for a brief two-game stint starting on Friday, Feb. 3 against Princeton. The Bulldogs finish the home stand when Penn comes to town on Feb. 4.

OKAFOR HEATS UP
After battling some early season struggles, junior captain Chinenye Okafor has ramped up her production over the past five contests. After failing to reach double-figures in scoring in the team's first 10 games, she has eclipsed that mark four times in the past five games. She is averaging 13.6 points and 5.4 rebounds over that stretch, compared to just 6.9 points and 3.9 rebounds to start the year.

Chris Gobrecht, JOEL E. SMILOW, CLASS OF 1954 HEAD COACH OF WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Chris Gobrecht, a 25-year Division I coaching veteran and a two-time Pacific-10 Conference Coach of the Year, takes the reins for her first season at Yale. Gobrecht is the ninth coach in the 31-year history of Yale women's basketball, and enters the Ivy League with more career victories than any other active coach in women's or men's basketball with 425.

DAVIS NOTCHES 100TH CAREER BLOCK
With a rejection late in the first half of Yale's game at Brown on Jan. 20, junior Erica Davis picked up the 100th block of her Bulldog career. Davis already holds the Bulldog career record for rejections along with the single season mark (55).

McCOLLUM DOUBLES DOWN
Sophomore Sara McCollum recorded her second double-double of the season on Jan. 14 against Brown. McCollum dropped in 14 points and pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds to accomplish the feat. Her previous double-dip came on Jan. 2 against Lehigh when she had 10 points and 12 rebounds. For the season she is averaging 8.7 points and ranks fifth in the conference with 7.1 rebounds.

COMMON OPPONENTS
Yale and Harvard share four common non-conference opponents while Yale and Dartmouth share just one. Both the Bulldogs and the Crimson have faced, and fallen to: Fairfield, Virginia, Boston University and Providence. The Blue and the Big Green have both dropped meetings to Quinnipiac.

NOTHING BUT A BLOCK PARTY
Julie Mantilla tied a school record with five blocked shots at Quinnipiac on Jan. 4. It is the third time in her career she has swatted five shots, and the second time against Quinnipiac. Teammate Erica Davis also shares the record, accomplishing the feat twice. Sarah Jacobson `93 and Megan Connick `81 also hold a piece of the record. For the season Mantilla is second in the Ivy League, averaging 1.31 blocks per game.

GOBRECHT PICKS UP FIRST YALE WIN
With a 66-61 win over Lehigh, Chris Gobrecht picked up her first career victory at Yale, snapping a ten-game losing streak by the Bulldogs.

LILLEMOE NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Freshman guard Kaitlyn Lillemoe has been impressive through the first 14 games of her Bulldog career, and was named to the Coca-Cola St. Louis Billiken Classic All-Tournament team. During the two games she averaged 12.5 points, including a 16 point effort in the Bulldogs narrow loss to the Privateers. She was also clutch in the effort, hitting a key three pointer and picking up a block in the final minutes. She had an impressive Yale debut, scoring a team-high 19 points. On two occasions the freshman buried three-pointers as the shot clock expired as part of her .615 night. She finished 8-13 from the floor and 3-4 from three-point land. She chipped in four rebounds and a pair of assists as well.

EMMERLING SETS NEW CAREER HIGH
Junior Kaitlin Emmerling set a new career high in points twice this season. On the strength of 4-5 shooting from beyond the arc, Emmerling set a new career mark with 17 against Providence on Nov. 21. Her previous mark came in the season opener against New Hampshire when she scored 13.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Yale welcomes four fresh faces into the fold for 2005-06. Jenny Burke, Ashley Easley, Emily St. Jean and Jamie Van Horne will all look to contribute during their first seasons in the blue and white at either guard position. The four will bolster a backcourt corps that lost its top two scorers to graduation.

FREQUENT FLYER MILES
Yale's non-League road trips this year ranged from as close as Hamden, Conn. (12 miles) to St. Louis, Mo. (1056 miles) and virtually every distance in between. Among their closer road trips, the Bulldogs traveled to nutmeg state rivals Quinnipiac (Hamden) and Sacred Heart (Fairfield). The longest trip of the season knocked two games off the schedule when Yale played in the St. Louis Billiken Classic against host St. Louis and New Orleans. The Bulldogs also participated in the Virginia Cavalier Classic, taking on host Virginia and Boston University in December.