NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale women's basketball team, the No. 3 seed in the Ivy League Tournament, faces the No. 2 seed Columbia Friday at Harvard's Lavietes Pavilion (7:30 p.m.,
ESPN+,
Live Stats,
Tickets). The winner plays in the Ivy League Tournament Championship Saturday at 5:00 p.m., facing the winner of the other semifinal (No. 1 Princeton vs. No. 4 Harvard) for the Ivy League's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. Yale (16-10, 9-5 Ivy League, third) has won three of its last four games.
Among the Best in Yale History
Yale's total of 16 overall wins this season is tied for fourth-most in school history. The 2017-18 and 2019-20 squads hold the school record with 19 wins, and the 1979-80 team had 17 wins. Yale's regular season total of nine Ivy League wins this season was tied for third-most in school history, one away from the school record established by the 1988-89 and 2010-11 teams.
Defense Leads the Way
Yale is second in the Ivy League in scoring defense (56.4 points allowed per game), trailing only Princeton (50.0). That ranks the Bulldogs 39th nationally. Yale is 45th nationally in field goal defense (.367).
Emsbo Unanimous First Team All-Ivy; Keeps Climbing on Yale's All-Time Lists
Junior forward
Camilla Emsbo (Lakewood, Colo.) was named
unanimous first team All-Ivy League on Wednesday, the second All-Ivy honor of her career (she was second team in 2019-20). On Feb. 4 at Dartmouth she became the 23rd Yale women's basketball player to join the 1,000 career point club. Her and-one at the 8:02 mark of the fourth quarter gave her 1,002 career points. She now is at 1,083 points, 18th on Yale's career list. She is seventh on Yale's career rebounding list (700). She is second on Yale's career blocks list (171), 11 away from the school record. Emsbo has three of the five best single-season block totals in Yale history, including her total of 57 this year – six away from the school record set by
Erica Davis '07 in 2006-07.
Clark Second Team All-Ivy; Makes Mark in Record Book
Sophomore guard
Jenna Clark (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was named
second team All-Ivy League on Wednesday, the first All-Ivy honor of her career. She enters the weekend with the best single season assist total in Yale history (158), two more than the previous mark set by
Kathleen Offer '96 in 1994-95 (156). Clark has had 10 or more assists in a game three times this season, with a high of 11 (Jan. 15 at Cornell). She has 19 more assists than any other Ivy League player this year.
Bulldogs Among NCAA Leaders
Two Bulldogs rank among the national top 30 in various statistical categories:
- Sophomore guard Jenna Clark (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- 11th in assists per game (6.1)
- 25th in assists (158)
- 27th in minutes played per game (36.56)
- Junior forward Camilla Emsbo (Lakewood, Colo.)
- 22nd in blocked shots per game (2.28)
- 29th in double doubles (13)
Top Rebounders Play Here
Yale is the only school with two players among the top six in the Ivy League in rebounds: junior forward
Camilla Emsbo (Lakewood, Colo.) is second (10.0 rebounds per game) and senior forward
Alex Cade (Shaker Heights, Ohio) is sixth (7.6 rebounds per game). Emsbo's 19 rebounds vs. Columbia Feb. 12 are tied for the most in a game by any Ivy player this season.
Halftime Adjustments Paying Off
Yale has outscored its opponents by more than 100 points – 399-292 – in the third quarter this season. That is the largest difference of any quarter. The Bulldogs have outscored their opponents 396-394 in the first quarter and have been outscored 400-378 in the second quarter and 369-348 in the fourth quarter. Yale has outscored its opponents 21-12 in overtime.
Twenty Something
Four different Yale players have scored at least 20 points in a game this season, led by a pair of 26 point efforts from junior forward
Camilla Emsbo (Lakewood, Colo.). Sophomore guard
Jenna Clark (Pittsburgh, Pa.) scored 20 vs. Army West Point Dec. 28 and sophomore guard
Elles van der Maas (Sydney, Australia) scored 22 vs. Harvard Jan. 8, hitting a season-high six three pointers. Senior forward
Alex Cade (Shaker Heights, Ohio) scored 20 against Columbia Feb. 12.
McCann on a Hot Streak
Over the last five games first-year guard
Christen McCann (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) is second on the team in scoring (11.2 points per game), trailing only junior forward
Camilla Emsbo (Lakewood, Colo.) (12.8 points per game). McCann is shooting .474 in that span, including .469 from three-point territory. For the season she leads the team in three pointers (44).
Not a Bad Start for the First-Year Class
Yale's first-year class has combined for 29 starts this season – 23 by guard
Christen McCann (Port St. Lucie, Fla.), four for guard/forward
Mackenzie Egger (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.) and two for forward
Grace Thybulle (Irvington, N.Y.).
Captain Roxanne Nesbitt
Senior guard
Roxanne Nesbitt (Chicago, Ill.) was elected captain by her teammates this season. Nesbitt has been a steadying presence for the Bulldogs since making the team as a walk-on her first year. She made her Yale debut in the win vs. Saint Peter's Dec. 4, 2018 and has appeared in a total of 16 career games, scoring the first points of her career in the win vs. Sacred Heart Dec. 19, 2019. She made her first start this season, in the team's final home game. An economics and mathematics major, Nesbitt is working on a senior essay relating cryptocurrencies to early currencies in the United States. She has been a member of Yale Undergraduate Diversified Investments and has been a math tutor for middle schoolers. She is currently a member of Yale Bulldogs for Change, a student-athlete group focused on social justice and making the student-athlete experience at Yale more inclusive.
Gallagher Earns Academic All-Ivy League
Senior guard/forward
Robin Gallagher (Cary, N.C.) has been named
Academic All-Ivy League. Gallagher is a molecular, cellular and developmental biology major. She is a member of the Yale Undergraduate Pre-Veterinary Society and plans on going to veterinary school.
Astrom Reaches New Heights
Sophomore guard
Klara Astrom (Menlo Park, Calif.) has blown past her scoring average from her first season, averaging 9.1 points per game this season after averaging 2.8 in her first season. She is third on the team in three pointers with 39.
Kalich to be Honored by Ivy League
Alum
Mary Kalich '95 has been selected as part of the 16 member 2022 class of Legends of Ivy League Basketball. These Legends embody the unrivaled experience afforded Ivy League student-athletes and have left a lasting impact on their respective basketball programs, universities and chosen professions. Kalich, Yale's all-time leader in scoring, was a four time All-Ivy League selection and three-time team MVP. Each legend will be formally honored at the 2022 Ivy League Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments Mar. 11-13 at Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge, Mass.
Scouting Columbia
Columbia (21-5, 12-2 Ivy League, second) has won five of its last six games. The Lions are led by first team All-Ivy League guard/forward Kaitlyn Davis and second team All-Ivy League guard Abbey Hsu.
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