NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale women's basketball team brings a six-game winning streak to New York this weekend, taking on a pair of Ivy League opponents. The Bulldogs face Columbia Friday (7:00 p.m.,
SNY,
ESPN+, NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus tape delay 11:00 p.m.) before heading to Cornell Saturday (5:00 p.m.,
ESPN+).
Last Game
After opening Ivy League play with a close 79-72 win vs. Brown at Lee Amphitheater Jan. 17, Yale (12-3, 2-0 Ivy League) left much less room for doubt in the rematch last Saturday afternoon at Pizzitola Sports Center. Five Bulldogs scored in double digits -- led by a double-double from senior forward
Megan Gorman (Vero Beach, Fla.) -- and the Yale defense limited the Bears to 26 percent shooting en route to a decisive 73-40 win. That was the Bulldogs' first win at Brown since 2016, which was also the last year they started Ivy League play 2-0.
Win Streak to Six
Yale has won six in a row, the team's longest streak since winning six in a row Nov. 20 to Dec. 3, 2016. The last time Yale won seven games in a row was Jan. 7 through Feb. 6, 2014. The last time Yale won eight games in a row was Feb. 9 through Mar. 2, 1980 -- the longest winning streak in school history.
Best Start in History
With the win vs. Brown, Yale improved to 12-3 -- the best record after 15 games in school history. The 1976-77 squad started the season 11-4; that team went on to finish the season 15-5.
Bracketology
The latest edition of ESPN's "Bracketology with Charlie Creme" projects Yale to make the NCAA Tournament as a No. 12 seed. Creme has the Bulldogs facing No. 5 seed Indiana in Tallahassee, Fla.
RPI and the Ivy League
With most Ivy League teams now having played two league games, here is how the teams rank in the latest version of the NCAA RPI rankings:
22. Princeton
43. Yale
116. Penn
133. Cornell
144. Harvard
158. Dartmouth
163. Columbia
221. Brown
Back to the Back-to-Backs
Yale plays its first of six straight back-to-back two-game weekends this weekend. The Bulldogs have played on back-to-back days once already this season, winning both games (Nov. 29 vs. Fresno State at LMU and Nov. 30 at LMU). Prior to Friday's game at Columbia they will have played a total of two games in the previous 28 days.
The Ivy League recently announced a scheduling change the effects those back-to-backs, starting with the 2020-21 season:
- The Ivy League portion of the season will move from an eight-week to a 10 week schedule
- League play will begin for all 16 teams on Jan. 2, 2021 (15 days earlier than Yale's first league game this season)
- The league's signature back-to-back weekends will be featured three times during conference play; there will also be six single-game weekends and one Saturday/Monday pairing culminating on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
- The new format continues to prioritize and balance student-athlete time demands
- Each team will conclude the regular season with a single-game travel partner contest
"The format decompresses the schedule with two additional weeks of conference play and enables our teams the opportunity to compete at the highest level both in the classroom and on the court," said Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris.
On the Road Again
Yale is in the midst of a stretch of five straight road games. The Bulldogs are 5-2 in road games (and 1-0 in neutral site games) this season. Starting with an 82-72 upset win at TCU Nov. 19, 2017, Yale is 22-16 in road games in the last two+ years.
Scouting Columbia
Columbia (10-5, 1-1 Ivy League) has gone 9-2 since Nov. 17, and has won seven in a row at Levien Gymnasium. The Lions are third in the Ivy League in scoring (70.5 points per game). First year guard Abbey Hsu has made an instant impact in that category, leading the team in scoring (13.2 points per game). She is shooting .408 from three-point range. Guard Mikayla Markham is third in the Ivy League in assists per game (4.2).
Scouting Cornell
Cornell (8-6, 1-1 Ivy League), which hosts Brown Friday night, pulled off a thrilling comeback win against Columbia last weekend. The Big Red trailed by seven with 2:58 remaining but came back to tie the game on a pair of free throws in the final seconds by guard Shannon Mulroy. Cornell outscored Columbia 9-6 in overtime for the 80-77 win. Mulroy finished with a career-high 27 points, including seven three-pointers. She is third on the team in scoring (9.9 points per game), trailing forward Laura Bagwell-Katalinich (15.6) and guard/forward Samantha Widmann (13.2)
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