NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale women's basketball team opened the 2026-27 season with an emphatic win Monday night at Lee Amphitheater, beating Elms 111-38. That was the most points Yale has ever scored in a game.
Junior forward
Marisa Chapman (10 points, 10 rebounds)
, first-year guard
Helena Keane (23 points, 10 rebounds) and first-year guard
Lea Vukic (22 points, 13 rebounds) had double-doubles for Yale.
The Bulldogs ended the first quarter with a 27-4 lead, outscoring the Blazers 21-0 after Elms scored the first basket of the game and got within 6-4 at the 5:55 mark. Yale led by as many as 44 in the second quarter, eventually going into halftime up 58-15. The lead reached 63, 85-22, heading into the fourth. The Bulldogs outscored Elms 26-16 in the final frame.
STATISTICAL LEADERS
- First-year guard Helena Keane led Yale with a game-high 23 points.
- First-year guard Lea Vukic led Yale in rebounds with a game-high 13.
- Five different players had a team-best three assists.
- Keane and junior guard Ciniya Moore led the Bulldogs with four steals.
KEY STAT
- Yale committed just seven fouls. Elms didn't have any free throw attempts until 5:11 left in the third.
NOTES
- The Bulldogs overcame a 2-for-15 start, shooting 37-for-86 (.430) the rest of the way.
- That was Chapman's third career double-double. She had one in her first year and one last year.
- Moore extended her streak of consecutive free throws made to 16, dating back to last season, before finally missing one in the second quarter.
- Yale had a 27-4 advantage in fast break points.
- 15 different players played for Yale, and 12 played at least 10 minutes.
- Six players made their Yale debuts: first-year forward Kasey Davey, first-year guard Katie Diao, first-year guard Helena Keane, first-year guard Maddie Smith, junior guard Cloe Vecina and first-year guard Lea Vukic.
- Senior guard Lucy Lynn, Yale's captain, played her first game since Feb. 8, 2025. An injury had sidelined her since then.
QUOTING DALILA ESHE, YALE'S JOEL E. SMILOW, CLASS OF 1954 HEAD COACH OF WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
- "The hope [for this game] was to get a lot of experience for our first-years. The big value was being able to play pretty much everybody."
- "We are really, really talented. This team has started to figure it out."
- "In our [two preseason] scrimmages we fouled too much. Part of that was our first-years getting accustomed. Our biggest emphasis coming into this game was cleaning that up."
- "I'm not surprised at all [at the double-doubles for two first-years, Helena Keane and Lea Vukic]. Both of them are motor kids, high energy. They can hit the three. When they set their goals for this year, both of them said they want to average a double-double."
UP NEXT
- Yale hosts Saint Francis Friday at 6:00 p.m.
