Jan. 6, 2005
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
GAME #12
George Washington (7-4)
Friday, Jan. 7, 2005 - 7 p.m.
Charles E. Smith Center
Washington, D.C.
BULLDOGS TRAVEL TO NATION'S CAPITAL
Coming off its second straight home win, the Yale women's basketball hits the road again for its fifth game in 10 days and the fifth of seven in 18 days when it travels to Washington, D.C. to face George Washington. Yale is led by sophomore center Erica Davis, who leads the team with 13.9 ppg, 7.0 rpg, a .452 FG percentage, 23 blocks and 22 steals. She ranks third in the Ivy League in scoring, fifth in rebounding, first in blocks per game, third in shooting and is tied for fifth in steals per game and 10th in free-throw shooting (.765). Senior Tory Mauseth averages 10.5 points and is tied with Morgan Richards with a team-best 2.55 assists per game. Sophomore Chinenye Okafor is second in the league in offensive rebounding, averaging 2.82 offensive boards per game.
ELIS VISIT CHENEY, WHITE HOUSE
Prior to the game the Bulldogs will take a tour of the White House and pose for a photo in the West Wing with Vice President Dick Cheney '63. They also will hope to catch a glimpse of another Yale alumnus, President George W. Bush '68.
SERIES HISTORY
George Washington has won its last two games with Yale, including an 81-57 win last year in John J. Lee Amphitheater, to tie the all-time series at 2-2. Anna Montañana went 9-for-10 from the floor for a game-high 19 points for the Colonials last year, and Erica Davis scored 15 points to lead the Bulldogs. Yale has not beaten GW since a 75-54 victory on Feb. 21, 1979.
YALE TOPS LAFAYETTE FOR SECOND STRAIGHT HOME WIN
Morgan Richards went 3-for-4 from three-point range and scored 21 points to lead the Bulldogs to their second straight home victory Wednesday, 57-43 against Lafayette. A Lindsay Page three after the opening tip put Yale up for good. They opened the game with a 7-2 run, led by 16 at the half and by as many as 20 in the second half. The Leopards (2-9) crept back within eight at 51-43, but the Elis went 6-for-6 from the line in the final minute. Yale was 16-for-19 (.842) from the line in the game. Erica Davis added 11 points, three blocks and four steals, and 5-foot-4 point guard Stephanie Marciano pulled down a team-high seven boards. The Bulldogs limited Lafayette to 15-for-63 shooting (.238), and the Leopards went 0-for-13 on three-pointers. It was the 50th win for Amy Backus as Yale's head coach.
SCOUTING THE COLONIALS
Behind 23 points and nine rebounds from senior Jessica Simmonds and a 13-0 second-half run, George Washington (7-4) opened Atlantic 10 Conference play with a 72-50 win Monday at Fordham. The big run turned a 49-44 GW lead with 10:04 left into a 62-44 advantange five minutes later. Senior Anna Montañana ranks fourth in the A-10 with 15.8 ppg. Simmonds is eighth with 15.1 ppg and tied for sixth with 7.9 rpg. Freshman guard Kimberly Beck leads the team with 52 assists and 30 steals. The Colonials lead the A-10 with a turnover margin of +2.45. They have outscored their opponents by an average of 3.7 points (61.7-59.2), but have grabbed 5.2 fewer rebounds on average (33.7-38.9).
LIGHTS OUT FROM THE LINE
The Bulldogs lead the Ivy League with a .771 free-throw percentage (118-for-153). Tory Mauseth ranks fifth in the league, having knocked down 29 of her 34 shots from the line for a .853 percentage. Erica Davis is 39-for-51 (.765) to rank 11th. Yale's best foul-shooting performance came against Lafayette, when the Bulldogs went 16-for-19 (.842). With such a high percentage, the Elis would like to get to the line more. Yale is averaging 23.5 attempts from the line in its wins and 11.8 in its losses. Their opponents are 149-for-220 (.677) at the stripe. Last season, Yale knocked down 307 of 431 attempts (.712), and its opponents hit 397 of 564 (.704).
BLOCK PARTY
Yale, which set a school record with 105 blocked shots last season, is leading the Ivy League with 4.45 blocks per game in 2004-05. Erica Davis leads the Ivy League with 2.09 blocks per game (23 total). With five blocks at New Hampshire on Dec. 8, she tied the school record. Classmate Julie Mantilla is the only Bulldog to block five shots twice, including this season's Quinnipiac game when Yale blocked 11 as a team. She ranks third in the league with 1.45 blocks per game. Last season, Davis (40) and Mantilla (32) both surpassed the old individual record of 29 blocks by Meg Simpson in 2001-02. Both are on pace to better their totals from last year, and Yale is on pace to break last year's mark with 120 blocks. The Bulldogs have outblocked their opponents 49-17.
Amy Backus, JOEL E. SMILOW, CLASS OF 1954 COACH OF WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Amy Backus is in her sixth season as head coach of the Bulldogs. She has a record of 50-96 at Yale, while her overall record is 210-193 (Middlebury and Otterbein). Her record at Middlebury, where her team won the ECAC New England Division III Championship in 1993, was 106-41. Prior to Yale, Backus was an assistant under Don Perrelli at Northwestern of the Big Ten Conference from 1995-99 and earned an NCAA Tournament bid in 1997.
CLEANING THE GLASS
The Bulldogs lead the Ivy League with 26.45 defensive rebounds per game and are second with averages of 39.5 total rebounds and 13.09 offensive rebounds per game. Yale has two of the top three offensive rebounders in the conference in sophomores Chinenye Okafor and Erica Davis. Okafor is second in the league with 2.82 offensive boards per contest, and Davis ranks third with 2.64. The Bulldogs' rebounding margin of +1.5 is second in the league. Davis ranks fifth in the conference with 7.0 rpg, and Okafor is 17th with 4.8.
MAUSETH: THE SHARP SHOOTER
Senior Tory Mauseth ranks fifth in the Ivy League with a .853 free-throw percentage, 16th with 10.5 ppg, 13th with 2.55 apg and fourth with 1.73 threes made per game. She ranked fourth in the nation in three-point accuracy last season, knocking down 55 of her 120 attempts from behind the arc for a .458 percentage. After a cold-shooting start, Mauseth is 19-for-60 (.317) from three-point land in 2004-05, including a season-best 6-for-8 showing against Alabama. She is 142-for-392 (.362) from long range in her career. Mauseth needs to make 16 more three-pointers to break Autumn Braddock's Yale career record of 157(1995-1999). With 15 more attempts, she would break Braddock's mark of 406 career three-point tries. Mauseth tied the school record for threes made in a game with seven in a win at Cornell on the final weekend of 2003-04.
DAVIS IN THE PAINT
Erica Davis was a force down low in her first season for the Blue, but has improved her numbers this season thanks to more minutes from better endurance and less foul trouble. Yale's top scorer and rebounder with 13.9 ppg (third in the Ivy League) and 7.0 rpg (fifth), Davis leads the conference with 2.09 blocks per game and tied a school record with five swats at New Hampshire. She also ranks among the league leaders with a .452 field-goal percentage (third), 2.00 steals per game (tied for fifth) and a .765 free-throw percentage (tied for 10th). Last season, she led the Bulldogs in scoring (11.6 ppg) and rebounding (4.9 rpg), ranked second in the Ivy League in shooting (.531) and set the school season record for blocks (40), all while averaging just 18.0 minutes. Davis received All-Ivy honorable mention and was named to the Ivy All-Rookie Team. She set a school record with 36 points in Yale's win at Lafayette last season. Her high this year is 21 against Syracuse. She is averaging 26.5 minutes per game in 2004-05.
BULLDOGS PICKED TO JUMP ONE SPOT
In their preseason poll, media from around the Ivy League picked the Bulldogs to finish fifth in the conference. Yale received 62 points in the poll. Dartmouth was picked to win the league title with 114 points and nine of the 16 available first-place votes. Harvard, Penn and Brown also received votes to win the championship. The Elis were picked to finish one spot better than their sixth-place finish last year. Penn won the league with an 11-3 record in 2003-04, while Harvard and Brown tied for second at 9-5. Dartmouth was fourth at 8-6.
SEATTLE SLEW
Yale has players hailing from all over the country, but no other state has provided as many current Bulldogs as Washington. Seniors Tory Mauseth (Sammamish), Lindsay Page (Mukilteo), Morgan Richards (Seattle) and sophomore Eleanor Miller (Seattle) all hail from the Evergreen State. The group had a homecoming on Thanksgiving weekend of 2003, as Yale traveled to Seattle to play in the Seattle Times Classic, hosted by the University of Washington. Yale also has three players from New Jersey and a pair from California.
A TALL ORDER
The Yale roster features seven players who are 6-foot-1 or taller, including two 6-3 players (Erica Davis and Sara McCollum) and two 6-4 players (Julie Mantilla and Sarah Zoubek).
YALE ON YES
The YES Network will air six Ivy League basketball games this season, including the Jan. 28 Yale-Penn women's matchup at John J. Lee Amphitheater.
WELCOME TO NEW HAVEN
Yale welcomes a talented group of five freshmen to its 2004-05 roster. The twin towers of Sarah Zoubek and Sara McCollum add to Yale's already formidable front line. Both were McDonald's All-American nominees, and Zoubek received All-America honorable mention from Street & Smith's. When she recovers from injury, Stephanie Marciano will be called upon to take over at the point. She made the all-state third team and led John P. Stevens High School to a sectional title in 2003-04. Alexandra Chen, who played alongside Hakeem Olajuwon's daughter in high school and whose father played for the Chinese national team, joins the squad as a power forward after captaining the Marlborough School to its fourth straight league title in 2003-04. Jessica Kimball walked on to the team and will provide athleticism and depth on the wing.
