March 2, 2006

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THE MATCHUP
The Bulldogs enter the final weekend of the season looking to build momentum heading into the 2006-07 campaign after a weekend split with Cornell and Columbia. Penn is in the same situation as the Bulldogs, but Yale can potentially play spoiler for Princeton, who enters the weekend still in contention for the Ivy League crown.

SERIES HISTORIES
Yale holds a slight 31-27 edge in the all-time series with Penn after a thrilling last-second win earlier this season in Lee Amphitheater. The win was Yale's second consecutive over the Quakers including a 74-64 overtime win at the Palestra last season.

The Bulldogs trail Princeton in the all-time set 37-26 after the Tigers won their third consecutive earlier this season. Yale's last win over Princeton came on Feb. 20, 2004, a 59-56 overtime win in Lee Amphitheater. The Bulldogs last win in Jadwin Gymnasium came on Feb. 9, 2002, 85-80, also in overtime.

THE LAST TIME OUT
Yale split a weekend series with Cornell and Columbia their last time out, taking the Friday night contest with the Big Red 64-57 before falling to Columbia on a late jumper 59-57. On Friday Yale got big performances from the front court trio of Chinenye Okafor, Erica Davis and Sara McCollum. Okafor led the Bulldogs with 13 points, while Davis and McCollum both kicked in 12 points. The win snapped a four-game losing streak. On Saturday the Bulldogs couldn't hang on to a five-point halftime lead as Columbia clipped Yale 59-57. Shasta Henderson banked home the game winning shot with four seconds left denying Yale their first back-to-back wins of the season. The Bulldogs had one final shot, but Jamie Van Horne's long three fell short as time expired.

SCOUTING THE QUAKERS
The Quakers enter the weekend 4-20 overall and 2-9 in Ivy League Play. Junior guard Joey Rhoads paces the Penn offence, averaging 12.6 points which is good for eighth in the conference. She is one of the best free throw shooters in the league, hitting a tick over 85% of her attempts. Defensively, Penn has the leagues leading rebounder in Jennifer Fleischer. She is the only player in the conference to average double-figures in rebounds, at an even 10 per game.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Princeton, who takes on Brown on Friday, enters the weekend with a shot at a share of the Ivy League championship still in sight. They are 18-6 overall and 9-2 in Ivy play, a game and a half behind frontrunners Brown. The Tigers are led by the duo of Becky Brown and Meagan Cowher. Brown leads the league in scoring (15.9 ppg.) has hit on over 65% of her field goal attempts, also tops in the league. Cowher is sixth in the league in scoring (14.4 ppg.) and second in field goal percentage (51%).

UP NEXT
Off-season conditioning, exams and summer break. The Bulldogs season ends this weekend.

COMEBACK KIDS
Yale's 20-point rally against Penn on Feb. 4 was its largest come from behind victory since erasing a 16-point deficit against Morgan State on Dec. 20, 2004. The Bulldogs won that game 79-70.

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.

WELCOME TO THE CENTURY CLUB
Junior Julie Mantilla joined teammate Erica Davis as the only players in school history to accumulate 100 blocks for their careers. Mantilla picked up her 100th on Feb. 18 against Harvard. Davis reached the century mark earlier on this season against Brown. She is the school's all time leader in blocks (114) with Mantilla right behind her (100).

DOUBLE TROUBLE
Three Bulldogs have recorded a double-doubles this season, and all three have done it twice, including a stretch of three in the last four games. Erica Davis, Chinenye Okafor and Sara McCollum have all posted double-dips, with Davis putting up the most recent. She had 11 points and 11 rebounds in Yale's game against Harvard on Feb. 18.

OKAFOR STEALING THE SHOW
Junior Chinenye Okafor has taken her game to a new level over the past five contests. She is averaging 14.6 points and 7.2 rebounds during the span. She has also improved her free throw shooting, connecting on 15 of 16 attempts (.938) during the stretch, to bring her season average to over 65%. On the season she leads the team in both scoring (9.9 ppg.) and steals (48).

COMMON OPPONENTS
Yale and Penn share just one common non-conference opponent in Lehigh. Both the Bulldogs and Quakers defeated the Montain Hawkes, but Penn needed overtime for their victory. Yale and Princeton also share Lehigh as their lone common opponent. Princeton also won against the Mountain Hawks.

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 third in the Ivy League, averaging 1.33 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.

VAN HORNE NAMED ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
On Jan. 30, freshman guard Jamie Van Horne was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week. Van Horne averaged 13 points, including tying her career-high of 17, to earn the honors. It was the first time this season a Bulldog earned conference honors.

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.

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.