The women’s basketball team will be in an empire state of mind this weekend when it travels to New York for another series of back-to-back Ivy League matchups.
The Bulldogs (7–11, 3–1 Ivy), coming off a weekend split against Penn and Princeton, will face Cornell (5–13, 2–2) tonight, and Columbia (3–15, 2–2) on Saturday. Though the Elis defeated the Quakers 53–44 on Friday, they suffered their first league loss the following night at the hands of the Tigers, 52–37.
Yale currently sits in third place in the Ancient Eight standings, behind Harvard and Princeton, who are both 3–0 in league play.
Cornell (5–13, 2–2) also enters the matchup having won one of its two weekend matchups last week. The Big Red defeated Dartmouth 66–55 last Friday, but fell to Harvard 67–36 on Saturday.
Cornell is led by sophomore forward Clare Fitzpatrick, who is averaging 11.1 points per game. Fitzpatrick is also tied with freshman guard Allyson DiMagno as the team’s leading rebounder, with both averaging 5.3 boards per game.
The Bulldogs swept the season series against the Big Red last season. The Elis hold a 41–22 advantage in the all-time series against Cornell.
“Last time [against Princeton] we got beat on the boards, so we have to go out there and make sure we out-rebound them and have less turnovers,” guard Allie Messimer ’13 said.
Yale will then visit the Big Apple on Saturday for a matchup with Columbia (3–15, 2–2). The Lions came just short of upsetting Harvard last Friday, but ultimately fell 69–68 to the Crimson. Still, Columbia rebounded the next day with a 67–61 win over Dartmouth.
Seniors Kathleen Barry and Lauren Dwyer are the Lions’ top scorers, averaging 11.3 and 10.3 points per game, respectively.
The Elis split their two meetings with Columbia last season. Though the Bulldogs earned an 81–74 victory at home, they fell to the Lions 64–47 in New York in the second meeting. Yale leads the all-time series against Columbia by a 38–14 margin.
“We need to go out there and play Bulldog basketball and get the job done,” Messimer said.
Tip-off against Cornell is slated for Friday at Newman Arena, while the matchup against Columbia is scheduled for Saturday at Levien Gymnasium. Both games are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.