Yale Wins Seventh Straight Game

HANOVER, N.H. – The Yale women's basketball team held Dartmouth to only 26-percent shooting as part of a complete defensive shutdown of the Big Green, leading the Bulldogs to a 60-46 win on Friday night in the Leede Arena.

The victory was the seventh straight for the Bulldogs (11-8, 5-0 Ivy) and their fifth straight in Ivy League games, remaining unbeaten in conference play.

The Bulldogs forced Dartmouth into 20 turnovers on the night, resulting in 26 points on the other end of the floor. The Elis recorded 10 steals as a team, led by junior guard Whitney Wyckoff (West Chester, Ohio) with three.

The Big Green were 13-of-50 from the field for the game, being held to 25.9-percent shooting (7-of-27) in the first half and 26.1-percent (6-of-23) in the second. The backcourt of Wyckoff, along with freshmen guards Tamara Simpson (North Babylon, N.Y.) and Mary Ann Santucci (Seattle, Wash.) led the defensive charge.

"We play really good defense and we are able to grind teams down with our defensive pressure," said Class of 1954, Joel E. Smilow head coach Chris Gobrecht after the victory.

Holding Dartmouth to only 46 points is the second-fewest points surrendered by the Bulldogs in a game this season, behind only a 45-point lockdown of Saint Peter's back on Jan. 13.

"Our help was there every single time, so it helped us get extra pressure on their scorers," said Santucci. "We were able to tightly defend, knowing that we had help if we got beat."

A key in the Bulldogs' win was the frustration Yale's defense caused Dartmouth guard Fanni Szabo, the Ivy League's leading scorer. The Elis allowed her only 11 points (came in averaging 18.1 ppg) on 5-of-17 shooting and forced her into six turnovers.

"We knew with her (Szabo) that she is good at disguising her looks. You don't really see it coming, then she just pulls up and shoots. We worked on it in practice and we did a pretty good job of stopping her," said Santucci.

Wyckoff led the Yale offense, scoring a team-high 14 points, which included a sharp 6-of-7 from the free throw line. Santucci and freshman forward Jen Berkowitz (Wayland, Mass.) each scored 12, rounding out a balanced offensive attack.

Berkowitz's performance is the second time the freshman forward has scored in double-figures this season, with the first time coming back on Nov. 18 against Holy Cross (16 points).

"I think it was just team work, we all played with energy and made good passes, which set up good shots," said Berkowitz of her 5-of-9 (2-of-3 3FG) night from the field. The freshman played 21 minutes for the Elis, helping her team to a 23-9 scoring advantage off the bench.

The Bulldogs, who entered the game averaging a league-best 14.2 offensive rebounds, pulled down 16 more on Friday night, including five by sophomore forward Katie Werner (Phoenix, Ariz.) and four by junior center Emmy Allen (Overland Park, Kan.). Allen grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, matching a career-best.

"We shot the ball well tonight. We just find a way (to win), that's been our motto," said Gobrecht of the Bulldogs' victory. Yale shot 46.9-percent in the first half as a team.

Dartmouth never held a lead against Yale, while facing its largest deficit of 18 at the 7:54 mark of the first half. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 26-8 lead in the first 12 minutes of the game, as the Elis hit 11 of their first 20 shots (55-percent).

At the intermission, Yale held a 37-23 lead, due in large part to 10 first-half points by Santucci and six points each from Wyckoff, Simpson, and sophomore guard Meghan McIntyre (Santa Rosa Valley, Calif.).

The Big Green did not get within eight points in the second half, as the Bulldogs kept extending their lead with eight points from Wyckoff and seven points from Berkowitz in the second half.

With a 10-point lead and 2:47 remaining in the game, Berkowitz hit a three-pointer from the corner off an assist from Santucci to put the game out of reach for Dartmouth.

With the win, the Bulldogs are now riding a seven-game winning streak, the longest since the 1979-80 season, when Yale had a program-best eight consecutive wins.

The Elis will look to match the program's longest winning streak when it travels to play Harvard in the Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday night at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.

Filed by Steve Lewis, Yale Sports Publicity