NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Trips to the states of California and North Carolina -- and the chance to play in the Ivy League Tournament -- highlight the 2019-20 Yale women's basketball schedule, which was announced Friday. The season starts Tuesday, Nov. 5 with the Bulldogs hosting Providence.

Yale makes a pair of plane trips this year, starting with a trip to California -- home state for first year guard Klara Astrom (Menlo Park, Calif.), senior guard Roxy Barahman (Calabasas, Calif.), junior guard Aerial Chavarin (Oakland, Calif.) and first year forward Ayla Elam (Woodside, Calif.). After playing at UCLA Nov. 26, the Bulldogs play in Loyola Marymount's Thanksgiving Classic Nov. 29-30.

Right after Christmas the Bulldogs fly to North Carolina, home state for sophomore guard Robin Gallagher (Cary, N.C.). Yale plays the Tar Heels on Dec. 28.

The Bulldogs have 14 regular season Ivy League games, starting vs. Brown on Jan. 17. Those games provide a chance to earn a spot as one of the four teams in the Ivy League Women's Basketball Tournament, which takes place at Harvard's Lavietes Pavilion. The semifinal games are on Mar. 14 and the championship game -- which determines the team that receives the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament -- takes place on Mar. 15.

This is Yale's fifth year with Allison Guth as the Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball. The Bulldogs return five players who made 20 or more starts this past season, and next year's returnees accounted for 89 percent of the points the team scored this past year.

Here is a breakdown of the schedule for 2019-20, Yale's 47th varsity season:
 

• Yale's regular-season schedule consists of 27 games. That includes 14 games against Ivy League opponents -- one home and one away against each of the seven other schools (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn and Princeton).

• The regular-season schedule includes 13 non-conference games. In addition to the Ivy League, Yale plays games against teams from 11 other conferences:
  • The America East Conference (vs. UMass-Lowell Nov. 21)
  • The Atlantic Coast Conference (at North Carolina Dec. 28)
  • The Big East Conference (vs. Providence Nov. 5, vs. St. John's Dec. 6)
  • The Colonial Athletic Association (at Northeastern Nov. 23)
  • The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (vs. Quinnipiac Nov. 13)
  • The Mountain West Conference (vs. Fresno State at LMU Nov. 29)
  • The Northeast Conference (vs. Sacred Heart Dec. 19, vs. Wagner Dec. 31)
  • The Pac-12 Conference (at UCLA Nov. 26)
  • The Patriot League (at Colgate Nov. 16)
  • The Southern Conference (vs. Mercer Dec. 31)
  • The West Coast Conference (Nov. 30 at LMU)

• Yale plays 15 games against teams that made either the NCAA Tournament (Mercer, North Carolina, Princeton, Quinnipiac, UCLA) or the WNIT (Fresno State, Harvard, Loyola Marymount, Northeastern, Penn, Providence, Sacred Heart) last year.
   
• Yale plays 13 games against teams that won 18 or more games last year (Fresno State, Providence, Loyola Marymount, Mercer, North Carolina, Northeastern, Penn, Princeton, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, UCLA).
   
• Yale plays games in nine different states (California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island). Nine of Yale's student-athletes have at least one game in their home state this year.

• There are 13 home games on the regular season schedule.

• On Saturday, Mar. 7 vs. Harvard, Yale will celebrate Senior Day, as the Bulldogs pay tribute to the five members of the Class of 2020: guard Roxy Barahman (Calabasas, Calif.), guard Aerial Chavarin (Oakland, Calif.), forward Bronwyn Davies (Wayland, Mass.), forward Megan Gorman (Vero Beach, Fla.) and center Jessica Lezon (North Reading, Mass.).
   
• The 2020 Ivy League Women's Basketball Tournament takes place at Harvard's Lavietes Pavilion. On Saturday, Mar. 14, the No. 1 seed plays the No. 4 seed in one semifinal game, and the No. 2 seed plays the No. 3 seed in the other semifinal game. The winners face each other for the tournament championship on Sunday, Mar. 15.
  While the team that finishes the regular season with the best conference record will be declared the Ivy League champion, the winner of the Ivy League Tournament receives the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
   
• The NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Selection Show takes place on Monday, Mar. 16. The field of 64 will be announced on that day. Tournament competition starts with two rounds at the sites of the top 16 seeds Mar. 20-23. Regionals take place Mar. 27-30 at four sites (Greenville, S.C.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Port, Ore.; Dallas, Texas). The Final Four and Championship take place Apr. 3 and 5 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, La.

• Live stats and video of all home games, and road games where applicable, are scheduled to be available via links on yalebulldogs.com. All home games, and select road games, will be available on one of ESPN's platforms. 

• The schedule is subject to change. Check yalebulldogs.com for updates.

 
• 2019-20 Yale Women's Basketball Schedule