NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Last year at Hagan Arena, the Yale women's basketball team nearly completed a storybook ending against Saint Joseph's. The Bulldogs rallied from a 19 point deficit to take a 48-43 lead with 3:28 to play. But SJU fought back to tie the game, then got a game-winning three pointer from guard Alayna Gribble with two seconds left. This Friday night, the Bulldogs will take another shot at the Hawks (7:00 p.m.,
ESPN+,
International Stream,
Live Stats).
Last Game
Yale (0-1, 0-0 Ivy League) fell at Fordham 80-67 Monday night in the season opener. Four players scored in double digits, with sophomore guard/forward
Mackenzie Egger (Mount Pleasant, Mich.) and junior guard
Elles van der Maas (Sydney, Australia) leading the way with 15 points each. Those two also tied for the team lead in rebounds with seven. The Bulldogs got 29 points from their bench but were hurt by 16 turnovers.
Clark Off to a Good Start
Junior guard
Jenna Clark (Pittsburgh, Pa.) had a team-high 10 assists in the season opener Monday, adding 12 points, four rebounds and a team-best three steals. Clark is on the watch list for the 2023 Nancy Lieberman award. She was a second team All-Ivy League pick last year while establishing a Yale single-season record with 160 assists. She ranked among the league's top 20 in assists per game (5.9, 1st) (11th nationally), three-point field goals per game (11th, 1.5), points per game (14th, 11.2), rebounds per game (18th, 4.8) and steals per game (18th, 1.4).
Philly Familiarity
Yale's staff has multiple connections to the Philadelphia area:
- Dalila Eshe, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball, was a coach and recruiting coordinator at La Salle from 2016-2019. She led the Explorers to the signing of their first-ever top-100 recruit as well as their best incoming class in 25 seasons. On the court, La Salle achieved its best record in eight years.
- Assistant coach Sam Guastella got her start in coaching as a graduate assistant at La Salle in 2018-19 and was elevated to an assistant coach role for the 2019-20 season. She helped the Explorers more than double their overall and Atlantic 10 win totals in her second year. She spent the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons as an assistant coach at Temple, helping the Owls to a pair of American Athletic Conference Tournament appearances.
- Director of Women's Basketball Operations Erica Covile starred for Temple, where she was a 1,000 point scorer. She graduated in 2016. She spent last season as an assistant coach in the Philly suburbs at Bryn Athyn (Pa.) College, helping the Lions make their first playoff appearance since 2016-17.
Start of the Dalila Eshe Era
This marks Yale's first season under
Dalila Eshe, the team's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach. Eshe comes to Yale from Princeton, where she spent three seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. She helped the Tigers to a No. 24 national ranking, an Ivy League title and a win over then-No. 15 Kentucky in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. A star player at Florida, Eshe earned first team All-SEC honors as a senior in 2006 and was selected 25
th overall in the WNBA Draft by the Seattle Storm.
Scouting Saint Joseph's
Saint Joseph's (1-0, 0-0 Atlantic 10) opened the season with a 66-49 win vs. Bucknell at home. Guard Mackenzie Smith led the way with 19 points, while forward Laura Ziegler chipped in 16. The Hawks enjoyed a 34-22 rebounding advantage and shot .463 (25-for-54) from the field.
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