Women's Basketball Weekly Release - Week 4

Complete Women's Basketball Weekly Release in pdf format

Photos courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications and Yale Sports Publicity

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Thanksgiving did not provide much of a break for the Ivy League women’s basketball teams, as seven of the eight squads were in action against tough competition.

Overall, the League went 6-8 on the week, with Harvard and Princeton leading the way at 2-1 apiece. The Crimson defeated Holy Cross, 80-62, before heading west, where it fell to Michigan, 72-61, and defeated Eastern Michigan, 67-63. Junior guard Christine Clark averaged 21.3 points in the three games.

Princeton traveled even further west to take on a pair of California teams, besting UC Riverside, 72-68, and falling to No. 19 UCLA, 65-52. Prior to their west coast trip, the Tigers had a tune-up against Rider, winning 88-42, their largest margin of victory in a non-conference game since an 88-41 win over Stony Brook on Nov. 22, 2008.

Senior guard Niveen Rasheed posted her first two double-doubles of the season, and the 24th and 25th of her career, in Princeton’s two wins last week, recording 17 points and 11 rebounds against Rider and 19 points and 12 rebounds at UC Riverside.

Brown defeated Rhode Island, 55-51, behind senior Sheila Dixon’s 22-points, 13-rebound effort, before falling at Pitt, 58-57. Junior Lauren Clarke scored 20 against the Panthers, her career-best third game this season with at least 20 points. Clarke entered the year with one 20-point game.

Cornell also went 1-1 on the week, beating Manhattan, 70-60 behind Taylor Flynn’s career-best 26 points, before falling at New Hampshire, 59-56. Junior Allyson DiMagno posted her third double-double of the season with 13 points and a career-best 19 rebounds against Manhattan and followed that with 15 boards against UNH. She leads the League with 12.8 rebounds per game, just ahead of Dartmouth sophomore Abbey Schmitt, who averages 10.0 boards per contest. Schmitt matched her season average with 10 boards in a 62-49 loss at Albany, the Big Green's only game of the week.

Yale took a mid-west trip, falling at DePaul, 95-80, and Northwestern, 83-75. The Bulldogs scored the second-most points against the Blue Demons this season, behind No. 23 Dayton's 92. Sophomore Sarah Halejian and freshman Nyasha Sarju combined for 32 points on 13-of-24 shooting against DePaul, which came into the game in the receiving votes category of both the AP and Coaches polls, while senior Megan Vasquez netted 21 points against Northwestern, her first 20-point contest of the season.

The upcoming week features the annual Brown Classic and a number of big games. The Bears will host Rider, Quinnipiac and New Hampshire on Saturday and Sunday. On Thursday, a pair of BIG EAST teams will enter League territory, as Princeton will take on Rutgers and Dartmouth will play Syracuse. The Scarlet Knights and the Orange are each in the receiving votes category of the AP and Coaches polls. This week also includes a rematch from last year’s postseason, as Harvard will travel to take on Hofstra. The Crimson defeated the Pride in the first round of the 2011-12 NIT, 73-71.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Entering this past week, Harvard junior guard Christine Clark (Tucson, Ariz.) had seven career 20-point games but was still waiting for her first of the season. She decided that one was not enough, so she went ahead and made it two, netting 25 against Holy Cross and 23 at Michigan. Clark then scored 16 at Eastern Michigan, including a pull-up jumper with 23 seconds remaining to give Harvard a lead it would not relinquish. She also averaged 6.3 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 2.7 assists in the three games.

Clark twice shot better than 50 percent from the floor, hitting at a 52.9 percent clip at Holy Cross (9-of-17) and 50.0 at Michigan (11-of-22). She also hit all 10 of her free throws on the week. Clark has led the Crimson in scoring in all six games to begin the year, the first to do so since Hannah Peltjo in 2002-03. She leads the Ivy League in scoring (19.0) and leads the NCAA in free throw percentage (1.000).

Clark earns her fourth Player of the Week award and her seventh career League weekly award after being named Rookie of the Week three times in 2010-11. Harvard has now earned a weekly award each week this season, as sophomore Temi Fagbenle was co-Rookie of the Week on Nov. 12 and senior Victoria Lippert was Player of the Week on Nov. 19.

Clark's Statistics for the Week

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Yale went 0-2 on the week, but it was not for lack of effort, including that of freshman Nyasha Sarju (Seattle). Sarju averaged 13.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steal in the two games while shooting 45.8 percent from the floor (11-of-24), including 66.7 from downtown (2-of-3).

Sarju tied for the team lead in scoring with 16 points at DePaul, on 7-of-12 shooting. She scored 12 of her points in the second half on 5-of-6 shooting while collecting three rebounds, two assists and two steals in the final period. Sarju is currently second on the team in scoring (11.2 ppg.), third in steals (4) and first in 3-pointers made (9).

Sarju's Statistics for the Week

HONOR ROLL
Jordin Alexander, Brown (Fr., G – Fishers, Ind.)
5 points at Rhode Island
11 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal at Pitt

Lauren Clarke, Brown (Jr., G – Colts Neck, N.J.)
10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals at Rhode Island
20 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 83.3 FT% at Pitt

Allyson DiMagno, Cornell (Jr., G – Fairport, N.Y.)
13 points, 19 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal vs. Manhattan
4 points, 15 rebounds, 2 steals at New Hampshire

Sheila Dixon, Brown (Sr., G – Schenectady, N.Y.)
22 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 steals at Rhode Island
8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block at Pitt

Taylor Flynn, Cornell (Sr., G – Floral Park, N.Y.)
26 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 57.1 FG%, 62.5 3FG% vs. Manhattan
15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal at New Hampshire

Bailey Ott, Columbia (Fr., F – Pompton Lakes, N.J.)
10 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assists, 5 steals at Morgan State

Niveen Rasheed, Princeton (Sr., G – Danville, Calif.)
17 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals vs. Rider
19 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals, 1 block at UC Riverside
17 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal at UCLA

Brittany Simmons, Columbia (Sr., G – McIntosh, Ala.)
11 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block at Morgan State

Megan Vasquez, Yale (Sr., G – Merrick, N.Y.)
9 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal at DePaul
21 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 57.1 FG%, 50.0 3FG% at Northwestern

Alex Wheatley, Princeton (Fr., F – Upper Holland, Pa.)
6 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 50.0 FG% vs. Rider
13 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, 85.7 FG% at UC Riverside
6 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals at UCLA

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, November 27
Dartmouth at Northeastern, 12 pm

Wednesday, November 28
Bryant at Brown, 6 pm
Columbia at Army, 7 pm
Cornell at St. Francis (N.Y.), 7 pm
New Hampshire at Harvard, 7 pm
Quinnipiac at Yale, 7 pm

Thursday, November 29
Rutgers at Princeton, 7 pm
Syracuse at Dartmouth, 7 pm

Friday, November 30
La Salle at Penn, 7 pm

Saturday, December 1
Columbia at Bryant, 1 pm
Harvard at Hofstra, 1 pm
Morgan State at Cornell, 1 pm
1-Rider at Brown, 2 pm
Yale at Army, 3 pm

Sunday, December 2
Dartmouth at Old Dominion, 2 pm
UMBC at Princeton, 2 pm
1-Quinnipiac/New Hampshire at Brown, 4 pm

KEY:
1-Brown Classic (Providence, R.I.)