Women's Basketball Weekly Release - Week 6

Complete Women's Basketball Release in pdf format

Photos courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications and Yale Sports Publicity

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Only six Ivy League women’s basketball teams were in action last week, but against tough competition the six squads combined for 7-5 record, including a 7-1 mark between Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale.

Harvard, Penn and Yale each went undefeated on the week, including a 3-0 mark by the Quakers, who have now won four in a row after dropping their first three games. The highlight of Penn’s week was an 18-point comeback victory at St. Francis (N.Y.), which tied for the 21st-largest comeback in NCAA history and the 13th-largest second-half comeback in NCAA history. It was the third-largest comeback for an Ivy League team.

Trailing, 57-39 with 7:29 remaining in the contest, Penn went on a 22-3 run to close out the game, including eight points by sophomore Kathleen Roche and seven points by freshman Keiera Ray. Roche set a school record with six three-pointers in the second half, including two during the Quakers’ game-ending run. Junior Alyssa Baron’s layup with six seconds remaining capped off the run and proved to the gamewinner, as St. Francis missed a jumper at the buzzer.

Penn also defeated Bucknell in overtime, 58-53, and Long Island, 54-40. Baron averaged 14.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.0 steals in the three games. The Quakers have won four-straight games for the first time since the 2004-05 season, when they won seven in a row.

Yale posted its first winning streak of the season, defeating Fordham, 67-53, and St. Francis (N.Y.), 66-62 in overtime. The win over the Rams was the Bulldogs first since Dec. 9, 1986, ending a six-game losing streak. Yale then took down St. Francis behind the play of sophomore Sarah Halejian, who scored a team-high 17 points, including four in overtime. It marked the Bulldogs’ first overtime game since Feb. 13, 2010, a 70-66 double-OT win over Dartmouth.

Harvard’s lone game of the week, a 73-59 win over Providence, proved to be the Crimson’s fourth-straight victory, its longest non-conference winning streak since the 1997-98 season, when it won six-straight non-conference games. Three players scored in double figures against the Friars, led by junior Christine Clark’s 17 points. Harvard is 7-2 on the year, marking just the fourth time in program history that the Crimson has started 7-2 or better.

Princeton split its two games, demolishing Hofstra, 84-54, before falling at Delaware on a last-second shot, 59-58. Senior Niveen Rasheed averaged 19.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.0 steals in the two games, including a 23-point, nine-rebound, three-assist, one-steal, one-block performance against the Pride.

Columbia and Dartmouth each dropped both of their games last week, despite the efforts of their key players. Lions senior Tyler Simpson averaged 19.0 points per game while shooting 55.2 percent from the floor (16-of-29) and Big Green sophomore Tia Dawson contributed 9.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocks while hitting at a 61.5 percent clip from the field (8-of-13) in the two games.

Only four games are in store for the Ivy League this week. Harvard travels across town to face Boston University on Monday at 7:00 p.m., Columbia will host St. Francis (N.Y.) on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. to become the fourth Ivy team to face the Terriers. Princeton will travel to Philadelphia to face Villanova on Wednesday and Dartmouth will take a trip further south to take on Florida International on Saturday.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
When Yale junior Janna Graf (Mission Woods, Kan.) scores, the Bulldogs win. In their 84-82 win over Houston on Nov. 17, Graf had 16 points. Yale had yet to win since that game and came into the week on a four-game losing skid. Graf made sure to put an end to that, scoring a season-high 18 points in a 67-53 win over Fordham and then 15 points in a 66-62 overtime win at St. Francis (N.Y.).

Graf shot 52.6 percent from the field in the two games (10-of-19), including 71.4 percent against the Rams (5-of-7). She shot 7-of-12 from downtown (58.3) and hit all three of her three-pointers against Fordham as well as all five of her free throws, matching a personal-best. Graf also recorded a career-high five steals against the Rams, the most for a Bulldog since Megan Vasquez tallied five against St. Francis on Dec. 18, 2011. For the week, Graf averaged 6.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 3.5 steals.

The award is the third of Graf’s career and the first for Yale since Vasquez on February 13, 2012.

Graf's Statistics for the Week

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Five weeks, five awards for Harvard as Temi Fagbenle (London) earns her second Rookie of the Week honor of the season. The Crimson has earned an award each week of the 2012-13 campaign, as Fagbenle was co-Rookie of the Week on Nov. 12, senior Victoria Lippert was Player of the Week on Nov. 19 and Dec. 3 and junior Christine Clark was Player of the Week on Nov. 26.

In Harvard’s only game of the week, Fagbenle finished with 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting while recording three rebounds. She set personal-bests in field goals and tied her career-high in points, scoring 13 in the second half, including five during a 9-0 run in which Harvard took the lead for good.

Fagbenle earns her second Rookie of the Week award and the first as the lone recipient after sharing the honor with Dartmouth's Abbey Schmitt on Nov. 12.

Fagbenle's Statistics for the Week

 





HONOR ROLL
Alyssa Baron, Penn (Jr., G – Miami)
12 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals vs. Bucknell
14 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 50.0 FG%, 50.0 3FG%, 100.0 FT% at St. Francis (N.Y.)
17 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals at Long Island

Tia Dawson, Dartmouth (So., C – Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
4 points, 7 rebounds, 1 block, 50.0 FG% at New Hampshire
14 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 blocks, 66.7 FG%, 100.0 FT% vs. Hartford

Sarah Halejian, Yale (So., G – Wyckoff, N.J.)
12 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 50.0 FG% vs. Fordham
17 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 50.0 3FG% at St. Francis (N.Y.)

Victoria Lippert, Harvard (Sr., G – San Diego)
15 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 60.0 FG%, 100.0 FT% vs. Providence

Niveen Rasheed, Princeton (Sr., G – Danville, Calif.)
23 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 64.3 FG%, 80.0 FT% vs. Hofstra
15 points, 9 rebounds, 3 steals, 50.0 FG% at Delaware

Keiera Ray, Penn (Fr., G – Aurora, Ill.)
13 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks 70.0 FT%, vs. Bucknell
8 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal at St. Francis (N.Y.)
3 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal at Long Island

Tyler Simpson, Columbia (Sr., G – Lawrenceville, N.J.)
16 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, 58.3 FG% at Colgate
22 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 52.9 FG% vs. Iona

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Monday, December 10
Harvard at Boston U., 7 pm

Tuesday, December 11
Saint Francis (N.Y.) at Columbia, 7 pm

Wednesday, December 12
Princeton at Villanova, 7 pm

Saturday, December 15
Dartmouth at Florida International, 6 pm