Princeton (1-1 This week; 1-1 Overall)
The Tigers did not miss Leslie Robinson (graduation), Bella Alarie (injury), Abby Meyers (academic suspension), and Qalea Ismail (injury) on Tuesday, beating the Broncs 89-65 at Jadwin. The Orange & Black, led by 25 points from Gabrielle Rush, 16 from Carlie Littlefield and 10 from Taylor Baur, shot 47 percent from three and 59 percent from two.
Things were completely different at George Washington, when Princeton arrived with Baur added to the injured list. The Tigers, who beat the Colonials by 20 one year ago, could not get anything going offensively, eventually falling by a score of 64-49. For the afternoon, the Tigers only shot 18 percent from beyond the arc and 42 percent from two. Sophomore McKenna Haire came off the bench to lead the Tigers with 13 points, followed by 12 from first-year starter Julia Cunningham.
Penn (1-1 This week; 1-1 Overall)
Penn opened the season at Siena on Saturday, coming away with the 58-51 victory. Phoebe Sterba came off the bench to lead the Quakers with 16 points, and Eleah Parker added 12 points. While the Red & Blue held the Saints to 25 percent shooting from three and 39 percent from two, they had their own struggles from the field. Penn shot 27 percent from three and 26 percent from two. Outside of Sterba and Parker’s combined 11-22, the rest of the Quakers only shot 9-20 (23 percent) overall and 3-15 (20 percent) from beyond the arc.
Penn came up short against Notre Dame, the defending national champions and the No. 1 team in the country, 75-55, in South Bend Monday, but the Red & Blue fared much better against the Fighting Irish than did Harvard …
Harvard (0-2 This week; 0-2 Overall)
Notre Dame was too strong and fast for Harvard, running away with a 103-58 win in the Friday afternoon contest. The Irish dominated the paint (35 baskets; 58 percent shooting; +23 rebound margin; +22 made free throws), but the Crimson won the three point battle (11-34; 32 percent shooting vs 2-7; 29 percent). Seniors Sydney Skinnner and Nani Redford led the way for Harvard with 15 (5 three pointers) and 12 points, respectively.
On Sunday afternoon, the Crimson held a 60-55 lead over Purdue with just 5 minutes left, but the Boilermakers went on a 7-0 run over the next 3 minutes to take a two point lead. Sophomore Jadyn Bush tied the game at 65 with 23 seconds left, but her last second foul off a missed Purdue three gave the Big Ten squad the opportunity to sink the game winning free throw. Katie Benzan was the high scorer for Harvard with 16 points, while Bush finished with 10.
Yale (1-1 This week; 1-1 Overall)
Yale came out of the gate fast on Tuesday night, opening up a 11 point halftime lead on their way to defeating visiting Colgate, 80-61. Despite shooting 26 percent from three and 49 percent from the free throw line, the Bulldogs shot 53 percent from two and got 42 points in the paint. Defensively, Yale held the Red Raiders to 21 percent from three, 40 percent from two and 18 points in the paint. Roxy Barahman had 25 point and 7 rebounds on the night, while first-year forward Camilla Emsbo totaled 15 points and 9 rebounds in her debut.
On Thursday, the Bulldogs visited Northern Illinois in the first round of the preseason WNIT. Yale had a 63-52 lead with 3:22 left in the third quarter, before the Huskies went on a 14-0 run over the next five-plus minutes to take the lead. The Bulldogs battled back to go ahead 77-76 with 3:19 left in regulation, but UNI finished the game on a 13-3 run. The 89-80 defeat moved Yale in the loser bracket of the WNIT, where they will play two more games. Barahman and Emsbo had career highs of 29 and 21 points, respectively, while Megan Gorman put up 19 points.
Dartmouth (2-0 This week; 2-0 Overall)
The Big Green were the Ivy’s big winners this week, sweeping its contests against Loyola (Md) and Vermont. On Friday’s low scoring, 54-41, home opener, both teams had difficulty shooting from all parts of the court. Dartmouth won the offensive battle down low, as Annie McKenna, Anne Luce and Isalys Quinones went 11-17 from two, as the entire Greyhounds squad could only hit 8 of 36 (22 percent) inside the arc. McKenna, with 13 points, and Luce, with 11 points, both set career highs.
Against Vermont, the Green & White outscored the Catamounts 39-17 in the middle two quarters to spark a 66-42 victory. The team improved its shooting, hitting 50 percent from two and 33 percent from three, while holding Vermont to 42 percent from two and 11 percent from three. Quinones finished with 22 points and Luce again came off the bench to put up 13.
Brown (1-2 This week; 1-2 Overall)
The Bears came back from a 6 point halftime deficit against Central Connecticut with a 20-10 third quarter performance. After the Blue Devils jumped back out in front, 55-53, with six minutes left in regulation, Brown went on a 9-0 run over the next three and a half minutes to take a lead they would not relinquish The shots weren’t falling for Bruno in the team’s 68-63 victory, but their high tempo offense allowed them to get to the free throw line 38 times, 22 more than CCSU. The 24-10 advantage in made free throws ultimately proved to be the difference. Justine Gaziano led the way with 27 points and Shayna Mehta put up 16 points and 10 boards.
After beating Bryant by an average of 17.5 points in two wins last year, the Bulldogs got their revenge with a 75-57 victory at home on Thursday night. The Bears were only down 34-31 at the half, but Bryant opened up a 16 point lead late in the third quarter and prevented Brown from getting any closer than 15 points in the last ten minutes. Bruno again struggled from the field (33 percent from three; 20 percent from two), but they could not use their free throws to to help bail themselves out (5 less made FT than Bryant). Gaziano finished with a team high 13 points and Mehta added 12.
Brown was downed by Boston University in Beantown Monday, 72-51, despite a standout performance from Mehta (see below).
Columbia (2-0 This week; 2-0 Overall)
After controlling the middle twenty minutes, the Lions held a 50-42 lead with 9 minutes to go at Hofstra on Friday night. The Pride then went on a 13-2 run over the next 4 and a half minutes to claim a three point advantage. With Columbia back in front, 58-57, junior Janiya Clemmons hit a jumper, first-year Mikayla Markham knocked down two free throws and fellow first-year Sienna Durr hit three of four free throws to help cement the 65-63 victory. Columbia shot 42 percent overall and 61 from the charity stripe, but Clemmons and Durr combined to hit 10 or 20 shots from the field and 8 of 12 from the free throw line. On the night, Durr finished with a team-high 15 and Clemmons added 13.
Then the Lions used a third-quarter surge to turn back Army Monday, posting a 21-9 advantage in the stanza. First-year Sienna Durr’s game-high 21 points and a standout performance from junior guard-forward Stephanie Flynn (which prompted coach Megan Griffith to call Flynn her “favorite player of the game”) led the way.
Cornell (1-1 This week; 1-1 Overall)
The Big Red visited their neighbors at Binghamton on Friday night, leaving with a 72-61 defeat. Cornell jumped out to a 28-20 lead after the first fourteen minutes of action, but the Bearcats finished the half on a 15-5 run to go into the locker room up two. After Binghamton stretched its lead to 12 with just over 7 minutes left in regulation, the Red could not get any closer than 7 the rest of the way. Cornell may have won the the inside game (54 percent shooting vs 38 percent; + 7 rebound margin; +14 points in the paint), but it lost the game from the outside (4 made threes at 22 percent vs 9 made threes at 60 percent) and the charity stripe (7-10 vs 23-26). Lauren Bagwell-Katalinich and Halley Miklos each had 14 for Cornell in the loss.
But Cornell stymied Albany Monday at Newman Arena, holding the Great Danes to nine points combined in the first and fourth quarters as Laura Bagwell-Katalinich took over (see below).
Ancient Eight’s Top Eight
Roxy Barahman – Yale (junior, guard)
vs Colgate: 25 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals
vs UNI: 29 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals
Sienna Durr – Columbia (first-year, guard/forward)
at Hofstra: 15 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
vs Army: 21 points, 7 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal
Laura Bagwell-Katalinich – Cornell (junior, forward)
at Binghamton: 14 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
vs. Albany: 14 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks
Shayna Mehta – Brown (junior, guard)
vs CCSU: 16 points, 4 steals, 3 assists
at Bryant: 12 points, 3 assists, 1 steal
at Boston: 23 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
Isalys Quinones – Dartmouth (senior, forward)
vs Loyola (Md): 10 points, 12 rebounds, 1 block
vs Vermont: 22 points, 7 reobounds, 1 block, 3 steals
Nani Redford – Harvard (senior, guard)
vs Notre Dame: 12 points, 1 rebound
vs Purdue: 12 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists
Gabrielle Rush – Princeton (senior, guard)
vs Rider: 25 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals
vs GWU: 5 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks
Phoebe Sterba – Penn (junior, guard)
vs Siena: 16 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks
at Notre Dame: 8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist