It was déjà vu all over again for Princeton women’s basketball.
Three weeks ago, the Tigers opened their Ivy campaign with a resounding road win over the Cornell Big Red, 79-38, at Newman Arena in Ithaca. On Saturday afternoon at Jadwin Gym, Princeton delivered a carbon-copy performance, dominating the Big Red in every facet of the game en route to a 85-47 win. The Tigers (15-3, 5-0 Ivy) led this contest wire-to-wire, just as they did against the Big Red (6-11, 0-5) three weeks ago. It was their fourth wire-to-wire win in the first five games of the Ivy League season.
Playing before a home crowd for only the sixth time this season, the Tigers got out to a fast start just as they did in Ithaca, scoring the first nine points of the game and forcing coach Dayna Smith to burn an early timeout. Smith had been forced to take a similar timeout after trailing by nine against the Tigers after only 90 seconds three weeks ago.
After the stoppage of time, Cornell found their footing and scored four straight points, beginning with a jump shot by Summer Parker-Hall at the 5:56 mark of the first quarter. But Princeton’s defense stiffened and held the Big Red to just eight points in the first quarter. The Tigers led 20-8 at the end of the first stanza.
The Tigers opened the second quarter on a 12-3 run to effectively put the game out of reach. Two consecutive layups by super sophomore Madison St. Rose pushed Princeton’s lead to 28-11 with 5:46 to play in the first half. Another layup by Tabitha Amanze made it 30-11. Amanze, a sophomore from Nigeria, tallied eight points in the game, a career high.
The Tigers finished the first half on an 8-0 run and took a commanding, 46-19 lead into the locker room. Sparked by transition layups, the Tigers shot a scorching 21-for-30 (70%) from the field in the first half. The Tigers were led by St. Rose’s 11 first-half points on 5-for-7 shooting. Senior co-captain Kaitlyn Chen chipped in seven first-half points while rookies Ashley Chea and Fadima Tall came off the bench to contribute five points apiece. In all, 11 Tigers got on the scoresheet in the first half.
In the third quarter, St. Rose displayed her versatility with a spectacular, behind-the-back dribble penetration in the lane and finish to make it 48-20. The reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year finished with a game-high 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting in only 23 minutes of court time.
A Paige Morton putback off a Chen miss gave Princeton a 33-point lead, 53-20, at the 6:42 mark of the third quarter. Then, with just under five minutes to play in the quarter, Chea made an athletic play to keep a Princeton miss alive. The ball ended up in the hands of Chen, who dished to Chea for a smooth trey to put the Tigers ahead 58-24.
Chea finished with 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting, including 3-for-5 from behind the arc, to go along with three assists. Selected the MVP of the game, Chea told the ESPN+ broadcasting crew after the game that Princeton had intended to exploit Cornell’s defense by moving the ball up court for fast break points.
“Our game plan offensively today was to run the ball in transition and look for anyone who’s open,” Chea said. “We are a fast team and everyone on this team can score offensively.”
In the fourth quarter, Chen found Ellie Mitchell for a layup to open the scoring, her first points of the game. The dish was Chen’s 10th assist of the contest, a career high. The 5-foot-9 senior from San Marino, Calif. achieved a double-double, scoring 12 points in addition to her 10 helpers. Overall, the Tigers finished with 24 assists, a season high for the five-time defending Ivy League champions.
One highlight in this game for Carla Berube’s squad was the play of Princeton’s bench. Overall, nine players came off the bench to score 45 points for Princeton, a season high. One of those players was Taylor Charles, a 6-foot-2 sophomore from Elgin, Ill. Charles netted six consecutive points late in the game, a career high, including a corner three and an old-fashioned three-point play, to go along with two rebounds.
Princeton’s 85 points were the most scored by the Tigers this season. At 5-0, the Tigers remain atop the Ivy standings as they prepare to host the Yale Bulldogs on Friday night at Jadwin Gym.
The good news for Cornell, now 0-5 in Ivy play, is that the Big Red will no longer have to worry about facing Princeton again, at least not in the regular season. Cornell will look to regroup next Friday at home against the Dartmouth Big Green.