The women’s basketball team hopes to get on track this weekend and snap a three-game losing streak. On Saturday, the Bulldogs (2–3) will face the Bucknell Bison (2–5) in Lewisburg, Pa. to mark their third game against a Patriot League team this season.
The Elis’ two wins this season have come against Patriot League teams, Holy Cross and Army. Yale also faced Bucknell, Holy Cross and Army last year, but came out only 1–2 against the trio.
Against Bucknell, the Bulldogs hope to use improved rebounding and fast-break defense to impose their style of play against the Bison, said head coach Chris Gobrecht. Gobrecht noted that the game will have an “Ivy feel,” as Bucknell is representative of the best Ivy League teams.
Yale began this season’s three-game skid with a lopsided loss to No. 7 ranked Arizona State at home on Nov. 19, followed by two losses, to Toledo and North Carolina A&T, at the Holiday Inn & Suites Express Midtown Thanksgiving Tournament in Albuquerque, N.M., last weekend.
During the tournament, forward Melissa Colborne ’10 led the Elis with an average of 15 points per game. A two-time all-Ivy honoree, Colborne leads the team in scoring with 11.4 points per game this season and currently ranks eighth in Yale history with 1,228 career points. The former Ivy League Rookie of the Year is 34 points away from being seventh and 143 points away from the top five in program history.
Forward Michelle Cashen ’12 is the team’s second-leading scorer with 9.4 points per game, as well as the team’s leading rebounder with 7.6 rebounds per game. She also leads the Bulldogs in minutes played per game, averaging 28.2.
The Elis have benefitted from a balanced offense this year, which boasts six players averaging at least five points per game. The team, which has a nine-person rotation, has had three different players lead in scoring and four different players lead in rebounding through five games.
As her team heads into the Ivy League tune-up against Bucknell this weekend, Gobrecht said she is confident in her team’s play.
“I’m fine with where we’re at now,” Gobrecht said.