Last Friday, the women’s basketball team rode guard Janna Graf’s ’14 career-high 26 points to its first Ivy League victory, over Brown. This Friday, the two teams will meet again on the Bears’ court, as the Bulldogs will look to sweep the season series against their Ancient Eight rival.
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“They’re a very unique team, and so to have played them once is an advantage because I think we understand them a little bit better now,” head coach Chris Gobrecht said. “I think they definitely caught us off guard somewhat, but it’s their home court, they’re a good team [and] they’re motivated by being the ones that lost. We’ve been in their shoes, so we know how fired up you get when you get beat the first time.”
Though the Bears (4–11, 0–1 Ivy) held a three-point lead at halftime in last week’s game, the Bulldogs (5–10, 1–0) rallied in the second half and used an 18-3 run to permanently seize the lead and control of the game. As a result, the Elis emerged with a 66–54 victory, their first league win of the season.
Along with Graf’s career night, forward Mady Gobrecht ’11 also had a strong performance, scoring 11 points and grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds to earn her second double-double of the season for the Bulldogs.
Still, if the Elis are to come out on top for the second week in a row, they will have to defeat the Bears on the road.
“We know how hard they’re going to play. My bigger worry, being in their gym, is that they’ll feel more comfortable and they’ll shoot the ball a little more confidently,” Gobrecht said. “It’ll be interesting to see how much everyone’s game raises up another level. We just have to be sure our game does raise up another level, because it will need to.”
This is the first time in two years that Yale has been poised to sweep Brown. The Bulldogs have lost their first game against Brown in the past two seasons while winning their second meeting. Still, Gobrecht acknowledged that winning back-to-back games against the Bears will not be easy.
“I think it’s a huge challenge to sweep a team of their quality,” Gobrecht said. “I think the team really understands that this is going to be a big test for us, and we’re going to have to really go up there and be ready to play.”
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, R.I.