Ivy women’s hoops Saturday review

Banghart earns win 250, Delaney Smith sticks at 599

In a matchup of two of the Ivy’s premier teams and coaches, the Tigers (18-9, 10-2 Ivy) came out on top of the Crimson (14-11, 7-5), 61-58, on Saturday night.  With the win, Princeton coach Courtney Banghart won the 250th game of her 12-year career.  Harvard’s Kathy Delaney-Smith, in her 37th year there, will have to wait one more weekend to try and capture the 600th win of her storied tenure.

In a defensive battle where both teams shot under 36 percent from the field, the Tigers were able to use its inside presence (11-for-15 vs 2-for-2 in free throws; 36 to 28 points in the paint) to offset Harvard’s league-leading outside game.  The Crimson, which entered the game shooting more than 33 percent from three and averaging over nine treys a game, finished the night making only six baskets at a 23 percent accuracy.
Bella Alarie had 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Carlie Littlefield had 17 points and four assists for the Tigers.  Jeannie Boehm scored 16 points and Rachel Levy secured 14 rebounds for the Crimson.

Princess celebrates in style

In a low-scoring battle that featured eight ties and 10 lead changes, Penn’s Princess Aghayere celebrated her birthday by scoring a game-high 22 points to lead the way for the Quakers (20-5, 10-2) in a 56-52 victory over Dartmouth (12-13, 5-7).  The team’s win kept them tied atop the Ivy standings with Princeton, while giving the program its sixth straight season with 20-plus overall and 10-plus Ivy victories.  The loss dropped Dartmouth into fifth place, one game off the pace for the last spot in the Ivy Tournament.

On the defensive side, the Big Green won the rebounding battle, but the Quakers won the game by limiting Dartmouth to 29 percent shooting from three, 38 percent from two, and only four free throw attempts.  Aghayere shot 8-for-13, including 3-for-6 from deep, and added seven rebounds (three offensive).  Her frontcourt mate, Eleah Parker, didn’t score in the game’s first 15 minutes but ended up with 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting. Ashley Russell only scored four points in her final regular season game at the Palestra, but she played all 40 minutes a night after her season looked over after suffering an ankle sprain during the fourth quarter of Friday night’s game.

Bulldogs bigs come to play in the Big Apple

With the Lions up 28-24 at the half, the Bulldogs were looking at its fifth straight loss and a four-way tie for fourth place with Dartmouth, Cornell and Columbia.  Coach Allison Guth and her team knew they had to change the focus of their game by moving the offense down low.  Camilla Emsbo, Alexandra Maund, Alex Cade and Megan Gorman responded by scoring 33 points on 64 percent shooting over the last 20 minutes to lead Yale (16-11, 6-6)  to a 67-54 victory. The Bulldogs forwards had only scored more than 25 points once in its previous six games, a 69-61 win over these same Lions (8-17, 4-8) on Feb. 15. However, on a night where Roxy Barahman only scored nine and Tori Andrew was held scoreless, the front court totaled 50 much-needed points to keep the team’s Ivy Madness fate in its own hands.

Big Red bullies Bears to stay alive for Ivy Madness berth

Cornell held Brown to 26 percent shooting in the first half, including an 0-for-11 mark through the first 9:30 of the second quarter to jump out to a 34-20 lead after 20 minutes.  The Bears (9-19, 1-11) could not get any closer than 10 points in the third quarter, as the Red (11-12, 5-7) earned their second weekend sweep of Brown and Yale this season.  The 66-48 victory brought Cornell into a fifth place tie with Dartmouth, just one game behind Yale entering the last weekend of the regular season.

Cornell finished the night with 18 more rebounds, including a 46 percent offensive rebounding rate, that led to a 42-19 advantage with points in the paint.  On offense, the Red only shot 11 percent (1-for-9) from three, but hit 49 percent (14-for-29) from inside the arc and 71 percent (15-for-21) from the line.  Samantha Widmann had her third double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds.  Laura Bagwell-Katalinich added 20 points, her fourth straight game with 20 or more, and eight rebounds.  Samantha Clement, the lone senior on the roster, stuffed the stat sheet with nine points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.  Justine Gaziano had 15 points and Erika Steeves scored 13 as the Bears went down to its 11th straight defeat.