This weekend, the women’s basketball team will look to capitalize on a couple of teams placed below them in the Ivy League standings, as it hopes to begin its climb back to the top of the Ancient Eight. The fifth-place Bulldogs (5-14, 3-3 Ivy) will host sixth-place Princeton (4-17, 1-4) Friday and seventh-place Penn (3-17, 0-5) the following night.
The Elis return home after two long weeks on the road, which saw them win their second Ivy League road game in a row at Columbia (4-13, 4-2), followed by three straight losses to first-place teams Cornell (13-6, 5-1), Harvard (12-8, 5-1) and Dartmouth (8-12, 5-1). The games were often marked by the Bulldogs’ falling behind early, only to furiously come back from behind in the second half.
The Bulldogs’ shooting struggles on the road — at its lowest point, the team shot 20.8 percent in the first half at Harvard — may let up on the familiar rims at the John J. Lee Amphitheater. Energizing Eli fans should also help the team get off to quick starts and pave the way for two victories this weekend.
Friday’s matchup will showcase the Ivy League’s two leading scorers head to head, with Princeton’s Meagan Cowher, 17.2 ppg, and Yale’s Melissa Colborne ’10, 15.1 ppg, both on the court.