NEW HAVEN, Conn. – With the 2026-27 season approaching, the Yale women's basketball team is set to lean on a deep and experienced roster. The Bulldogs' core of 13 returnees from last year has been supplemented by the addition of five first-years and a transfer. The returning group includes five players who started at least 11 games last season. In addition to experience the Bulldogs also have size; this year's roster additions bring the team's total number of six-footers to eight.
Yale took a step forward last year, improving dramatically in multiple areas compared to the previous season. The Bulldogs improved their shooting percentage by 29 percentage points and decreased their opponents' shooting percentage by 44 percentage points. Yale led the Ivy League and was 27th nationally in blocks per game (4.8).
Now, as the Bulldogs prepare for 2026-27, they look to build on those trends and stay headed in the right direction as they enter their fifth season with
Dalila Eshe as the team's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball.
"Really excited to get started," said Eshe. "With us returning 13 returners and bringing in six new players, our practices have been incredible – they have been very competitive, very high energy."
The recent improvements in various statistics add a sense of optimism for the coming season.
"We watch our trajectory over the last couple years," said Eshe. "We've made significant jumps in our field goal percentage, our free throw percentage, and our defense [field goal] percentage allowed. We are continuing to be better in all those facets. I think the biggest and most glaring one for us [to improve on now] is turnovers."
The Bulldogs plan to leverage their depth to play at a high tempo.
"Across the board, you're going to be able to see us play a lot faster, hopefully get into the bench a little bit more," said Eshe. "We have a lot of talent, and we hope that we can play at a really high pace."
Here is a position-by-position look at the team heading into the 2026-27 season, which starts Monday with a game vs. Elms College at John J. Lee Amphitheater:
Forwards (5 returnees, 1 newcomer)
A trio of senior six-footers lead the way at forward.
Ana Guillen has 40 games of experience over the last two seasons at Yale, following her transfer from Wisconsin in 2024. She can crash the boards and also facilitate the offense. Her career highs include a nine-rebound game, and she was third on the team in assists per 40 minutes last year (3.6).
Mary Meng and
Luisa Vydrova give the Bulldogs two proven impact veterans. Meng, who transferred from Michigan State in 2025, is Yale's tallest player at 6-foot-5 and provides a true presence in the post. She averaged a team-best 8.8 rebounds per game and finished second on the team in blocks (37). Her developing offensive game could make her even more of a contributor.
"[Rebounding and blocking shots] is definitely something that I personally take a lot of pride in," said Meng. "It's kind of a standard that I set for myself to be able to uphold. Moving forward into this season, I would say that I'm really focusing on hunting my own shot more."
One of four seniors on the team, Meng summed up what it will take to make this season a success.
"It comes down to our standards at Yale women's basketball, who we are at our core," said Meng. "We defend, we rebound and we run. Living out those standards every day is how we're going to be successful this season."
Vydrova showcased a wide range of skills last year after transferring from UTEP, finishing second on the team in scoring (10.6 points per game), shooting a team-best .486 from three-point territory, placing third on the team in blocks (19) and placing fifth on the team in rebounding (4.7 per game).
The sophomore class includes a pair of post players in
Sophia Gibson and
Dora Kastl. Both provide size – Gibson is 6-foot-4 and Kastl is 6-foot-2. Gibson appeared in 10 games last year, grabbing a season-high six rebounds in the game at Penn State. Kastl was developing nicely until she was sidelined by injury for the final seven games. A defensive standout, she led the team in blocks with 38 and was fourth in rebounding (5.1 per game). She was second on the team in assists per 40 minutes (3.7).
First-year
Kasey Davey (Atlantic Beach, Fla.) gives the Bulldogs athleticism and another six-footer down low. She averaged 17.5 points per game, 8.4 rebounds per game and 1.5 blocks per game last season as a senior at Providence School of Jacksonville.
Guards (8 returnees, 5 newcomers)
The Bulldogs are glad to have senior
Lucy Lynn back. She appeared in a career-high 16 games in 2024-25, including her first four career starts, before an injury ended her season prematurely. The impact that Lynn continued to have on the team, even while sidelined, was recognized this past offseason when her teammates voted her this season's captain.
The Bulldogs have an enviable amount of talent and depth at guard in the junior class.
Marisa Chapman emerged as a starter in her first year and maintained that role last season, appearing in all 27 games and starting 23. She was third on the team in rebounding (5.5 per game) for the second straight season, and was also third on the team in assists (55). She can display a scoring touch as well; she had a season-high 16 points three times last season.
Ciniya Moore is coming off a breakthrough campaign that saw her earn honorable mention All-Ivy League while starting all 27 games. A shooter who is not afraid to drive, she was one of only two sophomores to earn 2025-26 All-Ivy honors (Penn's Katie Collins was the other). Moore earned that recognition after finishing third in the league in scoring at 17.4 points per game. That represented an improvement of 11.8 points per game over the previous season, the biggest year-to-year improvement in scoring by an Ivy League player since Penn's Stina Almqvist went from 3.4 points per game in 2022-23 to 15.3 points per game in 2023-24. Moore dramatically improved her three-point shooting (to .362 from .258 in her first season) and her free throw shooting (to .871 from .727 in her first season). She finished second in the league in free throw percentage and ended the season with a streak of 15 straight made free throws.
Moore remains intent on developing even further, both individually and as a team.
"Going into my sophomore year [last year], confidence was a big thing – I think just belief in myself and the work that I put in all summer, to go from being a primary defender to an offensive scorer and one of our first options for our offense," said Moore. "This summer, [I focused on] just building off what I'm already doing well and then adding counters to my go-to moves and making sure that I can dish the ball out to my posts, spreading out the floor so that our offense is even better this year."
Ke'iara Odume continued her development last season, appearing in all 27 games and starting a career-high six. She brings speed and strength, and has a career high of 16 points. Odume has not missed a game in her Yale career.
Magdalena Schmidt is a sharp shooter who has appeared in 32 games over the past two seasons, including six starts. All but five of her 63 career field goal attempts have come from three-point territory, where she can provide instant offense. Her career high of 14 points (Dec. 4, 2024) included four three-pointers.
Cloe Vecina (Vigo, Spain) is a transfer from Oregon State, where she averaged 9.6 minutes per game coming off the bench. She brings point guard experience and can impact a game defensively. Last year Vecina had multiple assists in 10 games and multiple steals in three games.
The sophomore class includes guards
Radhika Garapaty,
Olivia Kim and
Hannah Wasserman. Garapaty missed last season due to injury, but averaged 19.9 points per game as a senior at Notre Dame San Jose High School. Kim showed the ability to hit big shots last season, shooting .417 (5-for-12) on three-point attempts in her final nine games. Wasserman, a two-time all-section pick in high school, appeared in a pair of games for the Bulldogs.
A quartet of first-year guards adds to Yale's depth.
Katie Diao (Rockville, Md.) was the Montgomery County Player of the Year for Richard Montgomery High School, where she finished second on the school's career scoring list. She is a player who can create shots for her teammates. Versatile
Helena Keane (Dublin, Ireland) led Ireland's U18 National Team in scoring, rebounding and efficiency at the U18 Division B European Championships in Vilnius, Lithuania. She was the top scorer and rebounder while earning MVP in the Schools All-Ireland Final.
Maddie Smith (Arcadia, Calif.) was a four-time all-state nominee at Flintridge Preparatory School, where she set school career records for three-pointers, assists and steals (and was second all-time in points). She gives the Bulldogs another option at point guard.
Lea Vukic (Zagreb, Croatia) made her Senior Croatian National Team debut this year, and was a FIBA U18 European Championship DIV B All-Star 5 award recipient in 2025. Her extensive international experience should have her well-prepared to make an instant impact with the Bulldogs.
Coaching Staff
Eshe returns for her fifth season after joining Yale from Princeton, where she spent three seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator and helped the Tigers to a No. 24 national ranking and an Ivy League title. Assistant coach
Anna Kim returns for her second year, and assistant coaches
Jevon Estelle and
Keisha Hampton join the staff this year. Director of operations
Jehrin Colbert is back for a fourth year.
Schedule
The regular season starts Monday, with the Bulldogs hosting Elms. In addition to 14 Ivy League games -- starting Jan. 4, 2027 vs. Brown -- the Bulldogs have 15 non-league games.
All told, Yale will play in 10 different states and face teams from 10 conferences other than the Ivy League. The Bulldogs will take on five teams that won 20 or more games last year, playing a total of eight games against those teams.
The Ivy League Women's Basketball Tournament features the top four teams in the regular season standings and takes place at The Palestra in Philadelphia Mar. 12-13. The winner of that tournament receives the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
