Saturday night’s contest against Harvard will double as Senior Night for three Elis: captain Ashley Carter ’10, Melissa Colborne ’10 and Haywood Wright ’10.

Colborne will graduate this May as one of the program’s most accomplished players. A native of Calgary, Canada, Colborne also started playing basketball when she was eight years old, practicing with her dad and sister as soon as she could pick up a basketball.

“Basketball was always part of my life, and it was somewhere I could channel my competitiveness,” Colborne said.

As a senior at Springbank High School, Colborne averaged 33.8 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists per game before becoming the first Canadian to play for the Yale women’s basketball team.

Colborne was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year her freshman year, an All-Ivy first-team selection her sophomore year and an All-Ivy second-team selection her junior year. She was second in the Ivy League in scoring the past two years, and is currently fifth in Yale history with 1,373 points.

According to Gobrecht, Colborne has managed her game exceptionally well this year, as she is scoring less to adjust to the better team around her while improving other parts of her game.

“Melissa is playing the best basketball of her career right now,” Gobrecht said.

Colborne also greatly relishes her memories of the European trip as well as visiting teammates’ homes during road tournaments. After she graduates, Colborne hopes to continue playing basketball overseas for a year or two before applying to law school.

“Basketball has been a big part of my life at Yale and it goes beyond the hours spent in the gym and traveling over the weekends and breaks,” she said. “It has given me a chance to make friendships that will last long after I graduate this spring.”