Inside Ivy Hoops – Jan. 25, 2018

Going Inside Ivy Hoops with Jill Glessner and Brett Franklin this week are Cornell women’s basketball head coach Dayna Smith and Dartmouth men’s head coach David McLaughlin.

During Brett and Jill’s look at the Ivy men’s hoops scene, Jill praises the Brown men for overcoming the Inside Ivy Hoops jinx, the duo breaks down Harvard’s defensive prowess and offensive struggles, Jill explains why Harvard men should have beaten Dartmouth by double-digits, why Dartmouth is like the Philadelphia Eagles, why she’s going with Yale over Harvard and much more:

During Jill and Brett’s look at the Ivy women’s hoops scene, they note why this weekend is particularly pivotal for the #RoadToIvyMadness, Dominique Leonidas making a name for herself for Brown, Jill explains why she likes Columbia to avenge itself at Cornell,  the duo the doubly uptempo matchup of Brown at Dartmouth, how Dartmouth’s guard play will fare against Yale and 2016-17 Ivy Defensive Player of the Year Tamara Simpson and much more:

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Ivy women’s hoops weekend update

Brown 81 vs Yale 71 (OT)

In Yale’s 77-63 win in New Haven last Friday, the Bulldogs were able to prevent the Bears from getting into its fast paced offensive flow.  At the start of this week’s return match in Providence, Brown (13-2; 1-1 Ivy) was determined not to let that happen again.  However, they ended up forcing the pace to go a bit too fast and both teams struggled over the first 20 minutes.  The Bears managed to take a four-point lead into the locker room, but they shot 36 percent overall, 40 percent from two and 27 percent from three, as well as committing 10 turnovers. Yale (8-7; 1-1 Ivy), meanwhile, shot 27 percent overall, 33 percent from two and 29 percent from three.

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Ivy women’s hoops Friday in review – Jan. 12, 2018

Yale 77 vs Brown 63

Yale (8-6; 1-0 Ivy) opened up its march to Ivy Madness with a double digit victory over Brown (12-2; 0-1 Ivy) in a Friday matinee contest at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.  After a poor shooting first quarter from both teams, Yale entered the second frame up 3 and stretched it to six at halftime.  The Bears came out hot at the beginning of the third quarter, going on an 8-0 run over the first 1:36 to take a 39-37 lead.  From there, the teams stayed close and were tied at 58 with 6:54 left in the fourth quarter. Two Tamara Simpson steals and layups in nine seconds sparked Yale to a 10-0 run that put the game out of reach.

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Ivy women’s basketball week in review

1. Princeton (9-3)

Win – at Wagner, 58-37

Win – vs St. Joe’s, 63-54 (at Gainesville, Gator Classic)
Win – vs UT-Chattanooga, 59-49 (at Gainesville, Gator Classic)

The Tigers opened up a 17 point lead on Wagner by the second quarter, but the Seahawks got the lead down to five 30 seconds into the second half.  An 8-1 run over the next three minutes stretched the lead back to double-digits and the Tigers never looked back.  Leslie Robinson, Sydney Jordan and Carlie Littlefield each put up 10 points in the low-scoring contest.  Defensively, Princeton held Wagner to a season-low 37 points, including 30 percent shooting and only one three-pointer.

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Ivy women’s week in review – Dec. 16, 2017

1. Princeton (6-3)

Win – at Quinnipiac, 60-46

Loss – at Rutgers, 70-50

In the second of a six game road trip, the Tigers visited Quinnipiac on Saturday afternoon and soundly defeated a Bobcat team that made it to the Sweet Sixteen in last year’s NCAA Tournament.  Despite falling behind by six and not scoring a point in the first 5:21 of the game, Princeton rallied to take a three point lead after the first quarter.  Down 6 heading into the final frame, the Bobcats used a 9-2 run to take a one point lead with 7:13 to go.  The Orange & Black responded by outscoring Quinnipiac 17-2 the rest of the way for the victory.  Bella Alarie and Leslie Robinson each posted 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead the way.  The Tigers won the game with strong defense, limiting the Bobcats to 19 percent three-point shooting and 36 percent two-point shooting while outrebounding them by 11 percent.

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Ivy women’s basketball week in review

1. Princeton (3-2)

Win – at Davidson, 63-57
Loss – vs. No. 24 Villanova, 62-59

The Tigers traveled down to North Carolina, on Saturday, and earned a six-point win over Davidson.  With the score tied at 48 after three quarters, Bella Alarie scored eight of the team’s next 10 points as Princeton opened up an eight-point lead with over five minutes to play. The Wildcats were twice able to get within three points in the last 75 seconds, but could not get any closer. Alarie pitched in 21 points and 11 rebounds for her third double-double in a row, while rookies Carlie Littlefield and Abby Meyers combined for 24 points (6-for-10 from three) and six steals.  For her effort, Meyers was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week. But Princeton couldn’t quite avenge its WNIT loss last season to Villanova on Wednesday, falling to the Wildcats again despite a career-high 29 points from Alarie and an 11-4 run to start the game.

Next Game:  12/2 vs Delaware

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Ivy women’s basketball week in review

1. Princeton (2-1)

Win – at Seton Hall, 85-83
Loss – vs Georgia Tech, 67-56

Bella Alarie had double-doubles in both games, this week, and is leading the Tigers with 15.3 points and 10.3 boards a game.  Tia Weledji is averaging 14.7 points a contest and had her first career double-double against the Pirates.  Carlie Littlefield has been named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the first two weeks of the season.  Starting wing Sydney Jordan left the Seton Hall game after four minutes with an injury and did not play against Georgia Tech.  Her absence from the lineup will, most likely, increase the playing time for the highly rated first-year, Abby Meyers.

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2017-18 Ivy women’s basketball preview, part 2

This is part 2 of Ivy Hoops Online’s 2017-18 Ivy women’s basketball preview. Read part 1 here and part 3 here.

8. Dartmouth Big Green (‘16-’17 record: 8-19 overall, 3-11 Ivy; tied for seventh)

Coach Belle Koclanes (fifth season)

Captains: Andi Norman (senior forward) and Emily Slagle (senior guard)

Key Returning Players:

Kate Letkewicz (senior guard) – 23 starts, 34.6 mpg, 11.2 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 51 three-pointers made

Isalys Quinones (junior forward) – 21 starts, 27.2 mpg, 9.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.6 steals per game

Key Losses:
Fannie Szabo (guard/forward) – 20 starts, 29.9 mpg, 10.6 ppg, 2.0 apg

Amber Mixon (point guard) – 21 starts, 21.5 mpg, 2.0 apg

Key Additions:
Anna Luce (forward) – AP Washington State Co-POY; 1,700-plus career points

Elle Louie (guard) – 1,000 + points, 700 rebounds, 400 steals, 300 assists and 100 blocks in career

IHO Dartmouth schedule breakdown here

The Big Green return three players who started 20-plus games last season (Letkewicz, Quinones, Olivia Smith), and one who started 13 games (Norman).  Letkewicz was an Honorable Mention All-Ivy selection the last two seasons.  She was top 15 in the league for points and total rebounds, while being in the top five for three-point field-goal percentage (41 percent), three-pointers made, and defensive rebounds (6.1 per game). Quinones, who played for the Puerto Rican national team this summer, was top 15 in the conference in total rebounds, offensive rebounds, steals, free throw percentage and field goal percentage.  Norman was in the top 10 for three-point field-goal percentage and three-pointers made.

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Yale women’s basketball hopes to build on late-season momentum for ‘17-’18

After loses to Harvard and Princeton, the Yale women’s basketball team found itself at 2-7 in league play, one game ahead of last place.  With upcoming games against undefeated Penn and third-place Harvard, it would have been easy to give up and play out the season.  

But the Elis won four of their last five games, including back-to-back victories over the Quakers and Crimson, to end up one game out of the Ivy Tournament.  The Bulldogs will look to build on this late-season success to move into the conference’s upper division for 2017-18.

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