Feb. 15, 2007

GAME INFO:
Yale (11-11, 4-4 Ivy) at Dartmouth (11-10, 5-2 Ivy)
Friday, Feb. 16, 2007-7 p.m.
Leede Arena-Hanover, N.H.

TV: None
Radio/Internet: dartmouthathletics.com: Drew Galbraith

GAME INFO:
Yale (11-11, 4-4 Ivy) at Harvard (8-12, 6-1 Ivy)
Saturday, Feb. 17, 2007-6 p.m.
Lavietes Pavilion-Cambridge, Mass.

Webcast: gocrimson.com
Radio/Internet: gocrimson.com: Greg Kadetsky

TONIGHT'S GAME
Yale heads north this weekend for the first two of four straight road games, against Dartmouth and Harvard, the top two teams in the Ivy League. The Bulldogs (11-11, 4-4 Ivy) defeated both of this weekend's opponents earlier this season in New Haven. Yale knocked off the Crimson 61-53 on Jan. 26, then posted a 63-56 victory over the Big Green the following night. Dartmouth (11-10, 5-2 Ivy) has won seven out of eight, with the loss to the Bulldogs the only setback during that span. Dartmouth is 8-2 in the 2007 calendar year. First-place Harvard (8-12, 6-1 Ivy) has won five straight since that loss to Yale.

SERIES HISTORY
The Bulldogs and Big Green have met 59 times, with Dartmouth holding a 44-15 edge. Yale's 63-56 win in New Haven on Jan. 27 snapped the Big Green's four-game winning streak in the series. The Bulldogs' last victory over Dartmouth prior to that game was also the team's last win at Leede Arena, a 78-71 overtime triumph on Feb. 28, 2004.
Yale snapped a five-game losing streak against Harvard with a 61-53 victory at the John J. Lee Amphitheater on Jan. 26. Harvard leads the all-time series 35-26 and has won 21 of the last 25 meetings. Yale's last win at the Lavietes Pavilion was a 72-61 overtime victory six years ago today (Feb. 17, 2001).

LAST TIME OUT
Erica Davis was one block shy of the first triple-double in program history, finishing with 25 points, 12 rebounds and a school-record nine blocks in a 61-45 win over Cornell that snapped the Bulldogs' three-game losing streak. Yale used an 8-2 run over the final 5:05 of the first half to take a 29-21 lead at the break. The lead was never challenged in the second half, as Cornell never got closer than within six. The Bulldogs led by as many as 19 points in the second half. Last Friday night, the Bulldogs lost to Columbia for the fifth straight time, 72-64. Columbia led for most of the first half, but Jamie Van Horne drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the Bulldogs into the locker room trailing by just one, 38-37. Yale scored the first seven points of the second half to take a 44-38 advantage, but the Lions pulled away from there. Yale shot just 28.6 percent (6-of-21) from the field in the second half of the loss.

BULLDOG BYTES
Yale enters this weekend looking for its first conference road win of the season. The Bulldogs are 4-1 at home and 0-3 on the road in Ivy League play. Senior center Erica Davis is Yale's go-to player. She leads the Ivy League in rebounding (9.7 rpg), field goal percentage (.535) and blocks (2.41 bpg). Davis is also fifth in the conference with 16.5 points per game. She is averaging a double-double (18.3 ppg, 10.5 rpg) in conference games. Senior forward Chinenye Okafor is second in the League in rebounding (8.4 rpg) and third in steals (2.05 spg). Freshman guard Melissa Colborne is second on the team and first among Ivy League rookies in scoring (11.0 ppg). Junior guard Stephanie Marciano, the only Bulldog to start all 22 games, ranks first in assist/turnover ratio (1.49) and third in assists (4.27 apg).

DISCUSSING DARTMOUTH
Dartmouth has won seven of its last eight, including four straight since the loss to the Bulldogs. Senior guard/forward Ashley Taylor is among the Ivy League leaders in most major categories. She ranks second in scoring (18.0 ppg), second in free throw percentage (.834), seventh in steals (1.86 spg), and ninth in assists (2.95 apg). Sophomore guard Koren Schram averages 11.7 points and leads the Ivy League with 2.57 three-pointers a contest. Junior forward Sydney Scott leads the Big Green in rebounding (7.6 rpg), and senior guard Fatima Kamara leads the team in assists (3.05 apg).

CRIMSON COMMENTS
Harvard sits in first place with a 6-1 Ivy League record. The Crimson's only conference loss was to the Bulldogs. Sophomore guard Niki Finelli is the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week. She averaged 23 points and 6.5 rebounds in a sweep of Princeton and Penn. Finelli is second on the team with 12.4 points per game. Sophomore guard Emily Tay leads the Crimson in scoring (13.3 ppg), and the Ivy League in assists (5.1 apg), and steals (2.3 spg). Senior forward Christiana Lackner averages 6.9 rebounds per game.

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