Anyone thinking this might be the year to topple the Princeton women’s basketball team from its perch atop the Ivy League standings received a rude but familiar awakening on Monday night when yet another phenom took center stage in the Tigers’ season opener against the Duquesne Dukes. Princeton won a seesaw affair, 65-57, at Jadwin Gym, powered by sophomore sensation Madison St. Rose’s career-high 26 points on 9-for-18 shooting.
It was déjà vu all over again for Princeton. A year ago, the Tigers were coming off another successful campaign having won a second straight Ivy League title and toppled a power-five opponent – Kentucky – in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Although the Tigers were considered a favorite to repeat, there were questions about who could fill the very large shoes of graduated senior Abby Meyers, who had led the team in scoring and was voted Ivy League Player of the Year.
The answer a year ago was Kaitlyn Chen, who had dazzled the world of Ivy hoops at the end of her sophomore year at the 2022 Ivy League Tournament. Chen’s MVP performance at Ivy Madness in 2022 foreshadowed her emergence as Princeton’s next big star player, a promise she delivered upon by leading the Tigers in scoring last season and winning Ivy League Player of the Year honors.
Fast forward a year, and it’s clear a new star has been born on the grounds of Old Nassau with the poetic name of Madison St. Rose. St. Rose arrived at Princeton a year ago as a celebrated prep star from St. John Vianney. A three-time captain and the school’s second all-time leading scorer, she was the New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year in 2021 and was ranked the No. 46 highest recruit in the nation by ESPN.
St. Rose didn’t start in her Princeton debut against Temple a year ago. Instead, she came off the bench, played 18 minutes, and scored only three points on 1-for-6 shooting, including a 0-for-4 performance from behind the arc. It was a similar story in the following game against Villanova (three points), and in the next two games against Seton Hall (2-for-13, 0-for-6 from three), and Fordham (two points on 1-for-5 shooting).
It wasn’t until January that Rose began to find her footing on the college hardwood. At Ivy League media day three weeks ago, Princeton coach Carla Berube quipped that last year, Rose “had no idea what was going on in the first half of the season.” But that all changed once Ivy League play began.
On January 7, St. Rose led the Tigers in scoring for the first time, tallying 15 points in a win at home against Cornell. The following game, she again led the team in scoring with 19 points in a romp over Hartford. St. Rose went on to lead the team in scoring four more times, all in consecutive games, and won postseason recognition as the Ivy League Rookie of the Year.
As the curtain lifted on the 2023-24 season earlier this week, Berube knew she wouldn’t need to rely solely on St. Rose to lead her squad. The Tigers have two other alpha players returning from last year’s championship squad, including Chen and Ellie Mitchell, a two-time Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year.
But in the season opener on Monday against a quality opponent from the Atlantic 10 Conference, Chen and her teammates struggled to develop any offensive flow. The Tigers converted only three of their first 23 shots and trailed 16-6 at the end of the first quarter.
The Tigers turned the game around with their signature defense in the second quarter. Princeton’s tenacious guarding kept the Dukes off the scoreboard until nearly five minutes had passed in the second stanza; meanwhile, the Tigers finally started to convert on offense.
A mid-range jumper by Chen cut the lead to 16-8 with 6:49 to go in the half. Ellie Mitchell grabbed an offensive rebound, one of 13 pulled down by the Tigers in the first half, and flipped the ball through the hoop to make it 16-10.
From there, it was the Madison St. Rose show. The 5-foot-10 guard sank two free throws and then drained back-to-back corner threes to pull the Tigers within a point. Chen closed out the first half with an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Tigers their first lead of the game, 26-24.
The second half opened with another St. Rose three, and suddenly it looked like the Tigers were poised to run away from the visitors. But Duquesne refused to fold. A pair of threes late in the third quarter gave the Dukes a 49-44 lead, and when Ayanna Townsend, a 6-foot-2 senior center from Pittsburgh, opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with a jumper in the paint, it looked like Princeton might fall victim to an opening night upset.
But the Tigers clawed back with their trademark defense. St. Rose led the comeback, just as she had in the first half. The New Jersey native got a friendly roll on a mid-range set shot, cutting the Duquesne lead to 54-51. A nifty dipsy-doodle by Parker Hill in the paint brought the Tigers to within a point, 54-53, with 7:12 to go. St. Rose completed the comeback with a steal and a layup, giving Princeton the lead, 55-54, with 6:22 to play.
From there, Princeton’s stifling defense took over, holding the Dukes scoreless over a crucial four-minute stretch. A gorgeous pass from freshman Skye Belker hit senior Chet Nweke in stride for a layup, and extended the Tigers’ lead to 59-54. A pair of late three pointers by St. Rose closed out the scoring as Princeton prevailed, 65-57.
It wasn’t a pretty performance by Princeton, but the Tigers showed they can persevere even when they aren’t playing their best. As usual, the Tigers were saved by their defense, which held Duquesne to only five points in the fourth quarter and 18 field goals for the entire game. The Tigers also dominated on the boards, pulling down an astounding 19 offensive rebounds compared to only three for Duquesne.
The best news for Princeton was the stellar play of St. Rose, who sparked comebacks in both the second and fourth quarters. The sophomore sensation looked confident and poised throughout the contest. Her steady contributions took the pressure off Chen, who, truth be told, would probably prefer to be a facilitator more than a scorer.
On a less positive note, Belker’s debut as a freshman starter in the Princeton backcourt was not the stuff of legends. The Los Angeles native misfired on all 10 of her field goal attempts and committed a game-high five turnovers. She can take solace in knowing that just a year ago, it was a similar story for St. Rose, who also struggled to adjust to the higher level of play demanded in Division I women’s basketball.
The Tigers will look to continue their winning ways as they begin a five-game road trip at Middle Tennessee State Sunday. They then head to the West Coast for a showdown at UCLA on November 17, and a visit to the University of San Diego on November 19. The Tigers conclude the road trip with a pair of in-season tournament games against Oklahoma and No. 21-ranked Indiana at the Fort Myers Tip-off in Florida. The Princeton women won’t return to play at Jadwin Gym until November 29, when they face off against in-state rival Seton Hall.