Simpson With Game-High Five Steals

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Despite being competitive for most of the game, the Yale women's basketball team fell victim to a 50-percent (11-of-22) second-half shooting display by the Penn Quakers, on its way to a 68-49 loss at The Palestra on Friday night.

The Bulldogs (11-9, 2-1 Ivy) trailed by just seven points at halftime, staying very competitive with one of the Ivy League preseason favorites. It was a 35-23 scoring deficit in the second half that sunk Yale's hopes of knocking off the Quakers.

Of Penn's 68 points, 46 were scored by the combined effort of center Sydney Stipanovich (16), guard Anna Ross (16) and forward Michelle Nwokedi (14). Yale's strong defensive effort was thwarted by Penn's hot shooting.

"I was really impressed with Penn's aggressiveness on offense from the perimeter and inside the paint," said Joel E. Smilow '54 head coach Allison Guth. "We were prepared for the dual scoring of Stipanovich and Nwokedi, but Ross played a really great game."

Yale struggled to generate offense against one of the league's toughest defensive teams, led by Stipanovich's four blocks, which moved her into second place in Ivy League history in blocked shots.

The Elis shot 35.7-percent (20-of-56) as a team, being led by senior forward Nyasha Sarju (Seattle, Wash.) and sophomore guard Tamara Simpson (North Babylon, N.Y.) who each had a team-high 10 points.

"We took more shots than Penn, but I really wasn't happy with our ball movement. We were relying on one contested shot, rather than sharing the ball to find the open one," said Guth. Yale had difficulty at times with Penn's 2-3 zone, settling for 19 three-point attempts.

Senior captain Whitney Wyckoff (West Chester, Ohio) turned in another inspired performance with nine points, 11 rebounds and four assists, nearly achieving her fourth double-double of the season. Wyckoff had 10 defensive rebounds, with the next closest being Sarju with four.

The Quakers' defense forced 16 turnovers by the Bulldogs, translating the Yale miscues into 23 points on the other end. Yale forced 14 turnovers, including a game-high five steals by Simpson (four in the first quarter).

"I thought when they pressured us with the 2-2-1 (press), we stayed in the backcourt way too long. Instead of attacking and making them pay for stretching us out, I thought we became tentative," said Guth. "We missed a few shots, we became tentative, tried to slow it down and got out of our style of play."

Even facing two of the Ivy League's most athletic post players, the Bulldogs still managed a 28-22 scoring advantage in the paint. It was 3-of-19 shooting from long range and just 6-of-9 from the free throw line that made it difficult to form an offensive rhythm.

"We were missing some toughness; we always talk about trying to outwork and outsmart, but I felt like we had costly miscues and that can't happened against good teams," said Guth.

Yale had the better of the play in the first quarter, playing Penn to a 10-10 tie in what seemed to be a preview for a defensive battle to come. Simpson was a quick-handed wizard, grabbing four steals in the first 10 minutes to spark the Bulldogs on both ends.

"Tamara came ready to play. Offensively, she was an aggressor, getting to the rim. Defensively, when she makes those steals, grabs rebounds, makes a rotation – those are momentum plays," said Guth. "She will need to do that and more for us to be successful, but it has to be a team effort."

Penn took a lead into halftime following a 23-16 second quarter in which Nwokedi scored eight of her 14. Yale was poised to make a move in the second half however, trailing just 33-26.

The Quakers' defense came out strong in the third quarter however, making each bucket hard to come by. Penn stretched its lead to as much as 15 in the quarter, setting the stage for a runaway fourth quarter. Stipanovich had eight points in the third, while Yale managed 11 as a team.

The Bulldogs never got within 13 points in the final quarter, as Sarju scored six of her 10 in the fourth. Junior guard Lena Munzer (Highland Park, Ill.) added four points off the bench.

"We'll need to have amnesia after this one because we have a tough matchup against Princeton tomorrow night. We have to lock-in," said Guth. "We don't have a lot of time to prepare, but we have to get past this one."

Yale returns to the hardwood on Saturday night to play Princeton, the defending Ivy League champion, at 6 p.m. in the Jadwin Gym. The game can be seen on the Ivy League Digital Network.

Filed by Steve Lewis, Yale Sports Publicity