Feb. 2, 2006

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THE MATCHUP
Yale is hoping a return to the John J. Lee Amphitheater will bring a change in fortunes as the Bulldogs host Ivy rivals Princeton and Penn this weekend. Princeton invades New Haven as Ivy co-leaders, sharing an identical 3-0 conference mark with Dartmouth. Penn comes in on the other end of the spectrum, with a 1-2 mark in Ivy play.

SERIES HISTORIES
Princeton holds an all-time 35-27 series lead after sweeping Yale last season. The Bulldogs' last win in the series came on Feb. 20, 2004, a 59-56 overtime win at Lee Amphitheater. It is Yale's only win in the last six meetings.

The Bulldogs hold a slim 30-27 series edge over the Quakers. Yale needed overtime to pull out a 74-64 victory on the road in the last meeting on Feb. 19, 2005. The road team has won the last three meetings in the series. The last home win went to Penn, a 59-57 win at the Palestra on Jan. 30, 2004.

THE LAST TIME OUT
Yale finished off a three-game road trip with losses to Harvard and Dartmouth last weekend. The Bulldogs fell just short against the Crimson, 55-48, in Cambridge. Yale was within two points with 1:21 left in the contest, but Harvard scored the final five points as the Bulldogs were unable to convert on their last four attempts from the floor. The Big Green used a late first-half run to balloon a one-point lead with 8:19 left to a 20 point cushion at the half. The Bulldogs improved their offensive production in the second half, but Dartmouth held on for a 77-60 win.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
The Tigers enter Friday night 12-4 overall and 3-0 in Ivy play. They are led by the frontcourt duo of Becky Brown and Meagan Cowher. The duo rank third and fourth in the conference in scoring at 15.1 ppg. and 14.9 ppg. respectively. Brown, a senior, leads the league in field goal percentage (.656) and is third in rebounding (7.7 rpg.). Cowher trails only her teammate in field goal percentage (.500) and is fourth in the conference in offensive rebounds per game (2.56).

SCOUTING THE QUAKERS
The Quakers, who play at Brown on Friday, enter the weekend at 3-13 overall and 1-3 in conference play. Penn is led by Joey Rhoads, who is tied for sixth in the league, averaging 15.7 points. She is also seventh in the league in assists (3.27). Senior center Jennifer Fleischer is averaging close to a double-double for the season and leads the conference in rebounding (9.1 ppg., 10.3 rpg.). She is also second in blocks per game (1.43).

UP NEXT
Yale hits the road for a pair of games at Columbia and Cornell next weekend. The Bulldogs play the Lions on Friday, Feb. 10 at Levien Gymnasium before traveling to Newman Arena on Saturday, Feb. 11 to play Cornell.

VAN HORNE NAMED ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
For the first time this season freshman guard Jamie Van Horne has been named Ivy League Rookie of the Week. Van Horne averaged 13 points, including tying her career-high of 17, last weekend at Harvard and Dartmouth.

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.

OKAFOR STAYS HOT
It has been a tale of two seasons for junior captain Chinenye Okafor. After averaging a slim 6.9 points over her first seven games, Okafor has turned things around in her last seven to average 11.9 points over the stretch. Her rebounding also took a dramatic up-turn, going from 3.9 rpg. over the first seven games, to 6.0 over the last seven. For the season she is averaging 9.4 points and 4.9 rebounds. She notched her first double-double of the season and the third of her career, against Harvard with 10 points and 11 rebounds last weekend.

START ME UP
Freshman Jamie Van Horne has been at her best this season when inserted into the starting lineup. In her five starts she is averaging 10.4 points on 53% shooting from the field and 48% from three-point land. Coming off the bench she averages just 5.3 points on 45% from the field and 41% from beyond the arc.

DAVIS NOTCHES 100TH CAREER BLOCK
With a rejection late in the first half of Yale's game at Brown on Jan. 20, junior Erica Davis picked up the 100th block of her Bulldog career. Davis already holds the Bulldog career record for rejections along with the single season mark (55).

McCOLLUM DOUBLES DOWN
Sophomore Sara McCollum recorded her second double-double of the season on Jan. 14 against Brown. McCollum dropped in 14 points and pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds to accomplish the feat. Her previous double-dip came on Jan. 2 against Lehigh when she had 10 points and 12 rebounds. For the season she is averaging 8.7 points and ranks fifth in the conference with 7.1 rebounds. Chinenye Okafor is the only other Bulldog to have a double-double this season.

COMMON OPPONENTS
Yale and Princeton share just one common non-conference opponent, Lehigh. Both the Bulldogs and the Tigers defeated the Mountain Hawks on their respective home courts. Lehigh is also the only common opponent between Yale and Penn. The Quakers also picked up a home win over 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 second in the Ivy League, averaging 1.31 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.

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.

EMMERLING SETS NEW CAREER HIGH
Junior Kaitlin Emmerling set a new career high in points twice this season. On the strength of 4-5 shooting from beyond the arc, Emmerling set a new career mark with 17 against Providence on Nov. 21. Her previous mark came in the season opener against New Hampshire when she scored 13.

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.

Report filed by Hank Gargiulo, Yale Sports Publicity