Both Tiger squads punched tickets to the Ivy League tournament on Friday evening with blowout wins against the Brown Bears. Carla Berube’s women’s team, encountering a surprisingly spunky Bears quintet still smarting from a thorough pasting in Providence last month, was shocked in the first quarter, sharing the lead at 14 points apiece after 10 minutes. No Ivy team had such a start against the Tigers this season.
The Bears hung tough in the second period as well, although the Tigers began to take control toward the end of the first half. After 20 minutes, Princeton appeared headed in the right direction, leading 32-25.
Berube was observed scribbling furiously to prepare her halftime remarks to her Tigers.
Whatever their coach told them, a different Tiger team took the floor for the second half. Abby Meyers, by now the apparent consensus Player of the Year, added to her 14 first-half points by scoring the first eight points of the second half in not much more than a minute. She capped off her amazing run with a breakaway layup and, seconds later, a steal of the inbounds pass resulting in another layup.
The Tigers overran the Bears in the third quarter, equaling their output for the first half with 32 points, while holding Brown to six. Princeton compiled an extraordinary 56 points in the second half to Brown’s 17. The final score was Princeton 88, Brown 42. Brown is among the youngest Division I women’s teams. They proved to themselves they can play with the best, for a while at least.
Meyers led with 25 points in just 24 minutes. Julia Cunningham posted her third career double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds). Maddie Plank and Paige Morton came off the bench to combine for 23 points.
Berube played 13 people, giving her starters plenty of rest for tomorrow’s Yale game, which tips off at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
Mitch Henderson’s team took the floor in Providence expecting another struggle with Mike Martin’s club, especially since Brown remains in contention for the fourth seed in the Ivy League Tournament. Last month the Tigers escaped with a 76-74 win at Jadwin Gym.
Princeton last week regained some of its defensive identity, holding Dartmouth to 40. The Tigers hoped to play the same type of game against a Brown team that is accustomed to scoring from all over the court.
After the far easier than expected 69-50 win, the Tigers rightly feel that this defensive effort was the best of the season. Brown was held just under 33% from the field and made only four of 18 shots from deep. The Tigers, on the other hand, made 47% of their 58 shots, including 11 of 32 from beyond the arc. Ryan Langborg and Drew Friberg each had 15 points, combining for seven threes on 13 shots.
Jaelin Llewellyn had a coach’s dream of a stat line: 13 points, eight rebounds and five helpers.
The biggest factor for the Tigers was their rebounding advantage over the Bears, 45-35. Tameneng Choh and Jaylan Gainey each had 10 rebounds for the home club, as might be expected, while the Tigers had six players contesting on the boards.
Penn’s loss at Yale enabled the Tigers to move into second place in the Ivy standings going into Yale tomorrow. A win against the Bulldogs would go a long way toward the first-place finish the Tigers need to grab the top seed in Cambridge. They will need a better start than they had at Jadwin last month and they will need to continue their solid defense displayed in the last two games. An 8-for-18 “effort” from the free throw line cost them big against the Bulldogs.