The women’s basketball team, trying to stay undefeated in the Ivy League this season, will head to New York this weekend for back-to-back games.
Yale (8–8, 2–0 Ivy) will play against Columbia (4–12, 1–1) and Cornell (9–7, 1–1), which split a home-and-home series over the past two weekends.
The Bulldogs swept the season series against Brown with two impressive wins, 70–53 and 73–52. The Elis had a dominant shooting performance last week at home against the Bears, shooting a season-high 51.7 percent from the field. Guards Sarah Halejian ’15 and Lena Munzer ’17 led the team with 14 points apiece.
Munzer said that the team played a complete game, finishing off Brown in the second half after a great first half. She added that the team took to heart the need to play a full 40 minutes.
The Bulldogs will have to replicate that performance against Columbia and Cornell this weekend.
Yale will face Columbia on Friday night. Both teams come into the game with similar statistics, but the Elis have a slight edge. The Bulldogs are scoring 66.9 points per game on the year compared to the Lions, who are scoring 61.4 points per game. The Elis are also making a higher percentage of their field goals and three-point shots, 38.3 percent and 33.2 percent compared to 35.6 percent and 31.6 percent, respectively.
Yale has been dominant in the paint as well this year, averaging 39.3 rebounds per game compared to Columbia, which is averaging 37.1 boards a game. Neither team holds a clear advantage in the number of turnovers committed per game, with the Bulldogs averaging 16.6 turnovers per game and the Lions averaging 16.4.
The Elis will have to look out for guard Carolyn Binder, who is averaging a team-high 10.3 points per game for Columbia.
Yale will then face a quick turnaround, as the team will compete against Cornell Saturday night. The Bulldogs have outpaced the Big Red on offense this year, as Cornell is averaging 63.4 points per game. Although Cornell has a higher shooting percentage from the field at 39.2 percent, the Elis are the stronger team from beyond the arc as the Big Red manages only 27.1 percent from downtown.
The Bulldogs will look to control the key against Cornell, which is averaging 35.4 rebounds a game. Both teams are also turning the ball over at a rate of over 16.5 turnovers per game, with the Big Red averaging a slightly higher 16.9 per game.
The Elis will need to watch for forwards Allyson DiMagno and Nia Marshall, who are both averaging double figures, scoring 13.8 and 12.6 points per game, respectively.
The team will play its first back-to-back series of the season this weekend. Following the game last week against Brown, head coach Chris Gobrecht said that the team would be heading back to the gym for practice the next day to prepare for the weekend.
“We have to get ready for the back-to-back,” Gobrecht said. “We’ve only played four games the entire month of January so far … we have to get our bodies ready for it.”
The team travels to Columbia for a 7 p.m. game on Friday night and then to Cornell for a 6 p.m. game on Saturday night.