Ivy women’s basketball weekend in review – Mar. 2-4, 2018

Fri., Mar. 2
Princeton 79 vs Brown 44
Penn 64 vs Yale 52

Sat., Mar. 3
Dartmouth 88 at Columbia 77
Harvard 91 at Cornell 57
Penn 67 vs Brown 56
Princeton 64 vs Yale 53

Sun., Mar. 4
Harvard 78 at Columbia 59
Cornell 51 vs Dartmouth 49

1st – Princeton (12-2 Ivy; 22-5 Overall)
2nd – Penn (11-3 Ivy; 20-7 Overall)
3rd – Harvard (10-4 Ivy; 18-9 Overall)
4th – Yale (8-6 Ivy; 15-12 Overall)
5th – Dartmouth (7-7 Ivy; 15-12 Overall)
Tie 6th – Brown (3-11 Ivy; 15-12 Overall)
Tie 6th – Cornell (3-11 Ivy; 7-20 Overall)
8th – Columbia (2-12 Ivy; 8-21 Overall)

With all four Ivy Tournament teams in place, the final weekend of games would determine the league champion and seeding.  Since Cornell closed its campus on Friday for an upstate New York snowstorm, both Empire State teams had to move their games against Harvard and Dartmouth to Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

Princeton’s 35-point win over Brown, which included Leslie Robinson’s triple-double (10 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists), clinched a share of the conference title and the number one seed for the Ivy Tournament.  Penn’s Michelle Nwokedi and Eleah Parker totaled 29 points and 30 rebounds, while the team held a plus-18 rebounding advantage over Yale on their way to a 12-point victory. Nwokedi finished the night with 1,002 boards, becoming the second Quaker and sixth Ivy Leaguer to finish her career with over 1,000 points and rebounds.  Penn’s win guaranteed them a spot in the No. 2 vs. No. 3 game while keeping hope alive for a shot at a co-championship. Yale, though, was left in fourth place with an outside chance of moving up to the third spot.

On Saturday afternoon, Harvard placed five players in double figures while shooting 62 percent overall and 51 percent (11-for-20) from three to run away from Cornell.  The Crimson win kept them in the No. 2 vs. No. 3 game and officially placed Yale at the No. 4 position. Later that day, Penn held Brown to 31 percent shooting, while holding a plus-12 and plus-7 advantage in rebounding and blocks, respectively. Nwokedi put up 22 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks for the Red & Blue, leaving her as the only player in league history with over 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 300 blocks. Penn’s Senior Night win secured the No. 2 seed in next weekend’s tournament.  With the Tigers only up 57-53 over Yale with 1:28 left in the fourth quarter, the Orange & Black hit seven of eight free throws and held the Bulldogs scoreless to become the outright Ivy League champions. In a game where both teams struggled from the floor, Bella Alarie led all scorers with 18 points and senior Kenya Holland, in only her second start of the year, matched her career high with 15 points.

In games that had no bearing on the Ivy Tournament pairings, four Dartmouth players scored in double figures while the team went 11-for-23 from three to beat Columbia on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday afternoon, Dartmouth only shot 36 percent overall and 4-for-19 from three, while Cornell’s Dylan Higgins had 16 points, including 4-for-5 from three and a buzzer beating layup, for the Big Red’s third league victory.  Harvard, meanwhile, had a plus-18 advantage on the boards and held the Lions to 35 percent shooting on their way to a 19-point victory over the Lions. Harvard had four double-digit scorers, including first year forward Jadyn Bush, who scored a career high 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting.  

Upcoming Games

Ivy Tournament – The Palestra, Philadelphia

Sat., Mar. 10  – Semifinals
Princeton vs Yale at 6:00 p.m. (Live and On Demand at ESPN3; Tape Delay at ESPNU)
Penn vs Harvard at 8:30 p.m. (Live and On Demand at ESPN3; Tape Delay at ESPNU)

Sun., Mar. 11 – Final
Winner of Princeton/Yale vs Winner of Penn/Harvard at 4:00 pm at ESPNU