NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale women's basketball team takes on Columbia Saturday in New York (12:00 p.m.,
SNY,
ESPN+,
International Stream,
Live Stats,
Tickets). With five games remaining in the regular season, it is still crowded at the top of the Ivy League standings. The Lions sit in a three-way tie for first with Harvard and Princeton, while Yale is one game behind fourth-place Penn. The top four teams in the standings make the Ivy League Tournament, which takes place at Princeton's Jadwin Gym Mar. 10-11 and determines the recipient of the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Last Game
Yale (11-11, 5-4 Ivy League) had six players score eight or more points, including double doubles from junior guard
Jenna Clark (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and sophomore guard
Nyla McGill (Charlotte, N.C.), as the Bulldogs
beat Dartmouth 69-56 at Lee Amphitheater last Saturday. Clark had 11 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds while McGill had 10 points and 12 rebounds. The Bulldogs held Dartmouth to a .345 shooting percentage, the sixth time this season Yale has held an opponent to a shooting percentage that low.
Take Two, They're Free
Yale shot .846 (11 for 13) from the free throw line in Saturday's win vs. Dartmouth, the Bulldogs' best free throw shooting performance this season in a game in which they earned more than four free throw attempts. Yale's three best such performances from the line have come in the last six games, including an .800 (12 for 15) performance at Brown Jan. 16 and a .786 (22 for 28) performance vs. Cornell Jan. 14.
A Team Effort, by Class
With no healthy seniors this season, Yale has needed significant offensive production from all three of the other classes – and they have delivered. Here is a breakdown of the scoring by class, with the percentage of the team's total points (1,335):
- Seniors (1 player) 0 points (0%)
- Juniors (5 players) 605 points (45%)
- Sophomores (5 players) 507 points (38%)
- First years (3 players) 223 points (17%)
McGill Keeps Doubling Up
Sophomore guard
Nyla McGill (Charlotte, N.C.) had back-to-back double doubles last weekend, including a 20 rebound, 17 point effort against Harvard Friday that left her four shy of Yale's single-game rebounding record. McGill has six double-doubles this season, putting her near the top 50 nationally (two players with eight are tied for 49th). She is second in the league in rebounding (9.0 per game) and fourth in the league in steals (2.5 per game). She is third on the team in points per game (8.0). McGill is eighth in the nation in offensive rebounds per game (4.5).
Clark Nears Significant Mark
Junior point guard
Jenna Clark (Pittsburgh, Pa.) finished one rebound shy of a triple-double in Saturday's win vs. Dartmouth, ending with 11 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds. There are no records of any Yale women's basketball player ever recording a triple-double. Among Ivy League teams, Columbia (Kaitlyn Davis) and Cornell (Ania McNicholas) both had players achieve the feat earlier this year. Clark has been selected as
one of the top 10 candidates for the 2023 Nancy Lieberman Award, which recognizes the best point guard in women's college basketball. She leads the Ivy League in assists (124, 21st nationally), assists per game (5.6, 17th nationally) and minutes per game (36.22, 29th nationally). She is third in the league in assist/turnover ratio (1.55) and ninth in steals per game (1.82). She leads Yale in scoring (11.5 points per game). By assisting or scoring, she has had a hand in 43 percent of Yale's field goals this season – more than any other player in the Ivy League.
New Kid on the Blocks
Junior forward
Brenna McDonald (Natick, Mass.) made the most of her first two career starts last weekend. She had four blocks in each game – the most by any Bulldog this season. She had a career-high nine points in Saturday's win vs. Dartmouth, hitting five of her six free throws and two of her four shots from the field.
Thybulle Thrives on the Road
Sophomore forward
Grace Thybulle (Irvington, N.Y.) has done some of her best work away from Lee Amphitheater. She averages 7.5 points per game in road games – tied for third-best on the team. Her 4.3 rebounds per game in road games are second-best on the team. In home games she has averaged 2.6 points per game and 2.7 rebounds per game. Her season high in points, 16, comes from two road games (Nov. 11 at Saint Joseph's and Nov. 30 at UMass).
Around the Ivy League
Columbia, Harvard and Princeton currently sit atop the
Ivy League standings with 7-2 league records. Penn (6-3) is fourth and Yale (5-4) is fifth.
Saturday's Ivy League games include:
- 12:00 p.m. Yale at Columbia
- 1:00 p.m. Dartmouth at Princeton
- 2:00 p.m. Brown at Cornell
- 2:00 p.m. Harvard at Penn
Scouting Columbia
Columbia (18-4, 7-2 Ivy League) suffered just its second loss since Nov. 20 last time out, falling to Princeton 74-56 Saturday at Levien Gym. That dropped the Lions into a three-way tie for first in the Ivy League. They still lead the league in a plethora of categories, including scoring offense (80.2 points per game), field goal percentage (.451), three point percentage (.366), rebound margin (10.4), assist/turnover ratio (1.19) and overall winning percentage (.818).
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