NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The logjam at the top of the Ivy League women's basketball standings will start breaking up Saturday, as two of the three teams tied for first place with 4-1 league records – Yale and Penn – meet at The Palestra in Philadelphia (2:00 p.m.,
ESPN+,
International Stream,
Live Stats,
Tickets). Columbia, the other team tied for first, hosts Brown.
Last Game
Yale (10-8, 4-1 Ivy League) finished off a 2-0 long weekend with a
72-59 win at Brown Monday. The Bulldogs outscored the Bears 43-30 in the second half after the teams finished the first half tied 29-29. Sophomore guard
Mackenzie Egger (Mount Pleasant, Mich.) had a career-high 24 points and eight rebounds. The Bulldogs had started the weekend with a
68-56 win vs. Cornell Saturday.
Assists Trending Up
Yale totaled 39 assists in two games last weekend, setting the season high in assists with 23 in the win at Brown Monday after tying the previous season high with 16 in the win vs. Cornell Saturday. Over the last five games – all Ivy League games – Yale has totaled 73 assists, and 63% of the Bulldogs' field goals have been assisted. In the first 13 games of the season the Bulldogs totaled 146 assists, and 50% of their field goals were assisted.
Crime Pays
Yale had a season-high 18 steals last Saturday in the win vs. Cornell, and followed that up with 14 steals (third-most this season) Monday in the win at Brown. The Bulldogs have reached double digits in steals for four straight games, all wins.
A Team Effort, by Class
With no healthy seniors this season, Yale has needed significant offensive production from all three of the other classes – and they have delivered. Here is a breakdown of the scoring by class, with the percentage of the team's total points (1,125):
- Seniors (1 player) 0 points (0%)
- Juniors (5 players) 512 points (46%)
- Sophomores (5 players) 418 points (37%)
- First years (3 players) 195 points (17%)
A Unique Set of Skills
Sophomore guard
Nyla McGill (Charlotte, N.C.) is the only player in the Ivy League averaging at least 8.0 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 7.5 points per game. She ranks second in the league in rebounding (8.5 per game) and fourth in the league in steals (2.6 per game). She is third on the team in points per game (7.9). McGill is 13th in the nation in offensive rebounds per game (3.9).
Clark Establishes Ivy Mark
Junior guard
Jenna Clark (Pittsburgh, Pa.)'s career high 12 assists on Monday in the win at Brown were the most by any Ivy League player in a game this season. Clark had the previous high mark, 10. She set it in the season opener Nov. 7 at Fordham and matched it this past Saturday in the win vs. Cornell. All told she has three of the five highest assist totals in a game this season among Ivy players. She leads the league in assists per game (5.8, 16th nationally) and is third in the league in assist/turnover ratio (1.62). Clark is on the
Watch List for the Nancy Lieberman Award as the top point guard in the country.
Season Highs – and some Career Highs – for Astrom, Clark, Egger, McCann
Junior guard
Klara Astrom (Menlo Park, Calif.) recorded a season high 17 points in the win vs. Cornell Saturday, tying sophomore guard
Nyla McGill (Charlotte, N.C.) for the team high in that game. That was two points shy of Astrom's career high. On Monday it was sophomore guard
Mackenzie Egger (Mount Pleasant, Mich.)'s turn to lead the Bulldogs in scoring with a season high, as she scored 24 points (also a career high). In the Cornell game sophomore guard
Christen McCann (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) finished third on the team with 14 points – a season high for her, five away from her career high. In the Brown game junior guard
Jenna Clark (Pittsburgh, Pa.) finished second on the team with 19 points – a season high for her, one point away from her career high.
Decompressing
The Bulldogs will make separate trips to Penn and Princeton over the course of the next two weekends, playing the Quakers this Saturday and the Tigers Saturday Jan. 28. For many years the games had typically been combined as one road trip, but back in 2020 the Ivy League moved to a new decompressed schedule format. The new format expands the conference season from eight weeks to 10 weeks, with six weekends featuring just one opponent. There are still three weekends where teams play two games back-to-back. On the long weekend due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, each Ivy team plays two games in three days.
Around the Ivy League
Saturday's other Ivy League games include:
- 2:00 p.m. Brown at Columbia
- 2:00 p.m. Harvard at Cornell
- 2:00 p.m. Princeton at Dartmouth
Scouting Penn
Penn (12-6, 4-1 Ivy League) features two players who are among the Ivy League's best at either end of the court. Guard Kayla Padilla leads the league in assist/turnover ratio (1.77) and is fourth in points per game (16.0). Six-foot-four forward Floor Toonders leads the league in blocks per game (1.22) and is third in rebounds per game (8.0). The Quakers just had an 11 game winning streak snapped by a 55-40 loss at Princeton. They are 10-1 at The Palestra this season. Yale has won three games in a row in the series, including two at Penn. The most recent game saw the Bulldogs hit 10 three-pointers en route to
beating the Quakers 68-58 last February.
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