April 28, 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--Guard Jamie Van Horne was introduced as the captain of the 2008-09 Yale women's basketball team at the annual year-end team banquet, held Saturday night at The Course at Yale. In addition, the team handed out its postseason awards. Melissa Colborne was recognized as team MVP, while Ashley Carter was named Most Improved Player. Outgoing captain Stephanie Marciano received the Leadership Award and the Karen Yarasavage Award for "grit, determination and leadership" went to Ashley Easley.

A three-year starter, Van Horne has played in all 82 games during her Yale career. She was one of two Bulldogs to start all 27 games in 2007-08. Van Horne ranked second on the team with a career-high 9.1 points per game and placed second in the Ivy League with 59 three-pointers, the second-highest single-season total in Yale history. She is one of three Bulldogs with over 150 career treys and enters next season third on the all-time list, just 11 behind all-time leader Tory Mauseth. Van Horne was last year's recipient of the Karen Yarasavage Award.

"I am honored that my teammates have chosen me to be captain," Van Horne said. "I am excited for next year and will work hard to help this team be the best it can be. Stephanie is a hard act to follow in her ability to motivate and lead, but she was a good teacher. This team has a lot of potential, and it will be fun to see how successful we will be."

"Jamie is an outstanding choice as captain because she has the respect and affection of all of her teammates," Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach Chris Gobrecht said. "She will do a terrific job of moving this program closer to an Ivy League championship, as well as continuing to grow the values of community service and team togetherness that have identified this program over the years."

Colborne followed up her Ivy League Rookie of the Year campaign with a First Team All-Ivy selection this season. The other player to start every game, she finished second in the league in scoring (15.7 ppg) and was named Player of the Week four times. Colborne also placed fourth in field goal percentage (.474) and free throw percentage (.788). She had eight 20-point games, including four straight from Feb. 22-March 1. Her 424 points were the seventh-most in a single-season in school history.

Carter came off the bench in all 27 games and averaged 2.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. She was instrumental in the Bulldogs' 79-70 win at Penn on Feb. 29, scoring a career-high 10 points. Carter chipped in nine points and a career-high four steals the following weekend against Dartmouth. She had at least five rebounds six times, including a career-high seven twice.

Marciano, last season's Most Improved Player, earned a postseason team award for the third time in her career. Despite playing with a rib injury suffered against South Florida on Dec. 30, she started all 14 Ivy games and finished seventh in the conference with 3.08 assists per game. She had 77 assists this season and ended her career fifth all-time with 310 assists. Yale's only senior, Marciano was also presented with her framed game jersey and a scrapbook compiled by her teammates. In addition, she received her Academic All-Ivy certificate.

Easley had the best season of her career. She came off the bench in every game, averaging 3.3 points and 1.6 rebounds. Despite battling flu-like symptoms, Easley tallied 10 points against Holy Cross on Jan. 6, then poured in a career-high 14 on 5-for-7 shooting in the win over Princeton.

"Choosing the award winners on this team always seems to be difficult because so many players perform well in all categories," Gobrecht said. "But those who were honored were definitely a notch above."

The Bulldogs finished 9-18 in 2007-08, but went 7-7 in the Ivy League, their best conference record since 2001-02. Yale's fourth-place finish was its highest since the 2001-02 campaign. The team is tentatively scheduled to open the 2008-09 season at Holy Cross on Nov. 15.

Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity