Dec. 5, 2003

By Ernie Bertothy, Yale Sports Publicity

The Yale women's basketball team's recent competition in Seattle did not officially count as home games, but for four members of the team they were anything but road contests.

Juniors Tory Mauseth, Lindsay Page and Morgan Richards and freshman Eleanor Miller all returned to their home state of Washington last week, embracing the rare opportunity to play in front of their family, friends and former coaches at home for the first time in their collegiate careers.

The Bulldogs competed at the Seattle Times Classic at the University of Washington and despite playing 3,000 miles from New Haven, the two-day, four-team tournament had all the friendly sights and encouraging sounds of a homecourt advantage.

"It was like we were playing in front of a home crowd," said Miller, a Seattle native, reflecting on the Bank of America Arena atmosphere when Yale took the court over the weekend. "It was great to look in the stands and recognize people and for them to recognize you."

(L to R) Lindsay Page, Tory Mauseth, Eleanor Miller and Morgan Richards returned to their native state to play over Thanksgiving weekend.

The games seemingly morphed into something larger than an athletic event.

"It ended up being more like a family reunion," said Mauseth, who hails from Sammamish, acknowledging the sea of relatives that filled the purple and yellow seats of the University of Washington's arena.

The presence of moms and dads, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, and scores of friends generated an emotional side effect - pressure. The notion of a once-in-a-lifetime experience heightened the senses of the four locals.

"It was definitely self-imposed (pressure)," said Mauseth, who currently leads the team in scoring.

Richards, also a Seattle resident, directed her excitement to improve her performance.

"Coach Kerry (Jenkins) told me to channel my nervous energy into positive, aggressive play," said Richards, who went on to score a team-high 11 points against Oklahoma State in game one of the tournament.

The planning of the trip had been settled since 2001, leading to extra eagerness on behalf of the third-year players.

"Since freshman year, we have talked about Seattle a lot," said Page with an ear-to-ear grin. "I think our teammates got a little sick of it."

When the games had ended and the anticipation turned to reflection, the players viewed a bigger picture of the entire precious and unforgettable opportunity to play in front of people who may never see them compete in-person ever again.

"It was real neat to have them see me in my Yale uniform," said Page, of Mukilteo, who holds the all-time, single-game scoring record at the university. "It's always been a dream of mine to play Division I basketball, and to do it at an incredible academic institution is a remarkable achievement."

"I was really nervous," said Miller, the reigning the Washington State 3A Player of the Year, "I wanted our team to represent Yale well and let people know we're working hard back in Connecticut."

With intense training and an ambitious non-conference schedule featuring teams from conferences such as the Big 12 (Oklahoma State), West Coast (Gonzaga), Big East (Syracuse), Atlantic-10 (George Washington) and Conference USA (Tulane), the Bulldogs will be well prepared for the test of the Ivy League season. Despite two tough losses in Seattle, the Bulldogs were tied at halftime with Gonzaga and led Oklahoma State late in the first half. The trip provided lessons of where the team needs to be physically and mentally for upcoming foes.

"(The games in Seattle) showed how talented we can be," said Richards, "We know we can play with very good teams, which helps us see a glimpse of our potential."