NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale women's basketball team makes the short trip up I-91 Wednesday to take on local rival Quinnipiac (6:00 p.m.,
ESPN+,
International Stream,
Live Stats,
Tickets). The teams have split their last two meetings, which have been decided by a total of six points.
Last Game
Yale (4-5, 0-0 Ivy League) led Syracuse by as many as 13 points Sunday at Lee Amphitheater, but the Orange eventually
rallied for a 60-58 win. Junior guard
Klara Astrom (Menlo Park, Calif.) finished with a season-high 15 points and three steals to lead the Bulldogs, hitting six of her 11 shots.
Defense Makes Shooting Difficult
Sunday against Syracuse, when the Bulldogs held the Orange to a .321 shooting percentage, marked the third time this season Yale has held an opponent to a shooting percentage below .360. The Bulldogs held Fairfield to a .352 shooting performance and Maine to a .327 shooting percentage.
McGill Does it All
Sophomore guard
Nyla McGill (Charlotte, N.C.) is third in the Ivy League in rebounding (8.2 rebounds per game) and sixth in the league in steals per game (2.1). She is 17th in the league in assists per game (2.1). Combined with her scoring average (7.0 points per game), those numbers make her unique in the league – she is the only Ivy player averaging 7+ points per game, 8+ rebounds per game, 2+ steals per game and 2+ assists per game.
Astrom Heating Up
Junior guard
Klara Astrom (Menlo Park, Calif.) is coming off a season-high 15 point outing against Syracuse. Over the last two games she is shooting .571 (8-for-14). Against the Orange she also had season highs in assists (three) and steals (three). Astrom's career high in points is 19, a mark she reached twice last season.
Five is Clark's Number
Junior guard
Jenna Clark (Pittsburgh, Pa.) reached the five-assist mark again Sunday vs. Syracuse. That's the seventh straight game she has had at least five assists – and in six of those games she had exactly five (she had six in the other). Clark, who leads the Ivy League in assists per game (5.3), is on the
Watch List for the Nancy Lieberman Award as the top point guard in the country.
Welcome Back Sam
Yale assistant coach
Sam Guastella played for Quinnipiac, earning a degree in health sciences in 2015. Her career was marked by success, including a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, a pair of WNIT appearances and a pair of conference championships. She led the Bobcats to the best record in program history in 2014-15 (31-4). That included an undefeated conference mark of 20-0 and Quinnipiac's first MAAC Championship. She was a first team All-MAAC selection and finished her career as the Bobcats' all-time leader with 225 career three pointers. She also had the most career blocked shots (179) of anyone in QU's Division I era (since 1998-99) and served as team captain. Earlier this year Guastella was the first hire for
Dalila Eshe, Yale's new Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball.
Scouting Quinnipiac
Quinnipiac (4-3, 0-0 MAAC) has won two in a row, by a total of seven points, heading into Wednesday. The Bobcats have won 11 in a row at M&T Bank Arena. They are in their 28th season under Tricia Fabbri, who has led the team to five NCAA Tournament appearances and five WNIT appearances – including one last season.
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