As the calendar moves into February, we have reached the midpoint of the Ivy season. While this weekend brings the first back-to-back games of the season, Saturday night looks to be the more pivotal evening for the women’s division. Each game pits teams from the four tiers of the conference against one another.
Looking at the standings, Princeton and Columbia remain undefeated at 7-0. Yale is in third at 6-2 with Harvard in fourth at 5-3. Penn and Cornell are tied for fifth at 2-5, while Brown and Dartmouth remain winless.
The Tigers and Lions meet at Jadwin Gymnasium for the first time this season with first place on the line. The Crimson host the Elis, looking for revenge from Yale’s 80-73 win on January 8. The Big Red visit the Palestra to take on the Quakers and the Bears travel north to take on the Big Green at Leede Arena.
Here’s a look at how the league’s top four measure up to each other going into two pivotal Saturday night matchups:
Columbia at Princeton
Even without Bella Alarie (WNBA’s Dallas Wings) and Carlie Littlefield (North Carolina), Princeton still finds itself at the top of the Ivy League. The Tigers have not lost an Ancient Eight game since February 8, 2019 and sit at No. 6 in the most recent CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25.
Typical of a Carla Berube team, the Tigers lead with defense. Coming into the weekend, the Orange & Black were the conference’s top team in points allowed (44 points per game), effective field goal percentage (34.6%) and number two in rebounding rate (55.9%). They also led the league in forced turnover (28%) and steal (15.3%) rates. Offensively, they are third in effective field goal percentage (45.6%) and free throw shooting (70.9%), as well as second in turnover rate (15.4%).
Abby Meyers led the league in scoring with 19.2 points per game and Julia Cunningham was eighth at 14 points per contest. Meanwhile, Ellie Mitchell was first in offensive rebounding (3.8 rebounds per game), second in total rebounding (10 rebounds per game) and third in steals (2.7 steals per game).
If there are any issues with the Tigers, it’s that they relied heavily on the two-point shot (57.9% two-point rate) and are still looking for a three-ball threat outside Meyers and Cunningham (combined 30 threes at 59%, rest of team 11 threes at 21%).
The Lions, picked third in the Ivy League and Ivy Hoops Online preseason media polls, are riding a seven-game win streak and are No. 9 in the Mid-Major Top 25.
Columbia has been known for its offense over the last few years, but this year they have put more emphasis on the other side of the ball.
Entering the weekend, they were number one defensively in rebounding rate (56.9%), second in points allowed (53.2 points per game) and second in effective field goal percentage (35.5%). Kaitlyn Davis was leading the league in offensive (3.8 rebounds per game), defensive (eight rebounds per game) and total (11.8 rebounds per game) rebounding, in addition to blocked shots (2.7 blocks per game).
On the offensive side, they were first in assist rate (72.3) but fourth in effective field goal shooting (41.6%) and seventh in free throw success (62%). Fortunately, the Lions have Abbey Hsu (14.5 points per game) and Davis (14 points per game), who were fifth and seventh, respectively, in conference scoring. Megan Griffith can also use her 10-person rotation to find a reserve or two (Hannah Pratt 7.2 points per outing, Jaida Patrick 13 points per game over the last two contests) to provide a quick boost to the offense.
Unfortunately for Columbia, they may not have Pratt, who sustained an injury late in the game against Penn on January 26.
“We’re taking it slowly right now and uncertain about this weekend,” Griffith said during her weekly media availability. “When she is (ready to go), we’ll make sure she’s out there.”
The Lions were supposed to play the Tigers in the first round of the Ivy Tournament in 2020 before the event was canceled at the beginning of the pandemic. The odds were tough for Columbia in that matchup, but the teams find the gap narrowed in 2022. “They (Princeton) are a very talented team, but they are not the team they were two years ago,” Griffith said. “I think if we do that (follow our game plan), we’ll see the results that we want.”
In the Tigers’ four losses this year, they allowed their opponents to shoot over 50% from two and 31% from three. We’ll know by late Saturday night if that was part of the Lions’ game plan.
Yale at Harvard
Heading into the weekend, the Bulldogs were tops in three-points shooting (35.2%) second from two (44.3%) and third in assist rate (66.9%). On the other end, they were fifth in three-point rate (33.1%), fifth in free throw percentage (66.7%) and sixth in committed turnover rate (24.4%). Defensively, they were third in two-point shooting (36.8%), defensive rebounding rate (73.3%), but sixth in offensive rebounding (30.4%) and eighth in foul rate (22%).
Camilla Embso and Jenna Clark provide a strong one-two punch for Yale. Emsbo, a 6’5″ junior who took last year off to play with the Danish national team, was averaging 10.7 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game entering the weekend. Clark, taking over Roxy Barahman’s role for Allison Guth’s squad, was putting up 11.4 points per game and leading the league with seven assists per game (2.9 more than the next closest player).
They are getting valuable help from fellow starters Alex Cade (9.4 points, 7.3 rebounds per game) and Klara Astrom (10.1 points per game), but need the return of Christen McCann (10.2 points, two made threes, 4.8 rebounds per game), who missed last week’s contest against Princeton.
It should come as no surprise to Ivy fans that Harvard plays a fast-paced game focused on the three-ball. Entering the weekend, the Crimson led the league in three-point rate (39.4%), points scored (75.9 points per game) and possessions (73.6 per outing). Their top six players were all guards averaging more than 23 minutes a game, with four shooting over 32% from beyond the arc and double-digit made threes.
While most of the attention is paid to the deep threat, Harvard led the conference with a 47.2% two-point field goal percentage, boasted a league-low 14.8% committed turnover rate and was second in offensive rebounding rate (36.4%).
Harmoni Turner, Lola Mullaney, Mackenzie Forbes and Maggie McCarthy were all in the league’s top fifteen in scoring with 15.9, 14.5, 13.6 and 10.4 points per game, respectively.
Defensively, the Crimson were second in steal rate (13.1%), but fifth in effective field goal percentage (43.3%), fifth in defensive rebounding rate (64.7%), sixth in points allowed (64.3 points per game) and seventh in block rate (5.6%). They were also sixth in foul rate (19.8%) and their opponents are hitting a league-high 73.6% from the charity stripe.
In their first game at the John J. Lee Amphitheater, Yale managed to shoot better from three than Harvard (12 to 11), but the Crimson held their own from two (12 to 12). The bigger differences were Yale’s advantage on the boards (+6%) and free throw line (+3 attempts, +4 made shots).
If the Crimson control the tempo and force the Bulldogs off the three-point line, they stand a good chance at evening the season series and taking a big step to claiming one of the slots in Ivy Madness.