The Princeton women’s basketball team shrugged off a sluggish start and stormed past the DePaul Blue Demons, 79-58, in a Saturday matinee matchup at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
The win was the first of the season for Princeton (1-1) and its first triumph over DePaul (1-1) in program history. The Blue Demons won the previous three contests against the Tigers in 2011, 2012 and 2018.
Princeton got off to a good start in this one as Madison St. Rose hit a midrange jumper to open the scoring. The All-Ivy Second Team junior guard then lobbed a perfect pass to senior center Parker Hill, who flipped the ball through the hoop for a 4-0 Princeton lead.
St. Rose ended up tallying a game-high 24 points on 10-for-17 shooting. She also grabbed six rebounds, an aspect of play the former Ivy League Rookie of the Year is looking to improve upon this season.
DePaul responded with a 7-0 run to take a 7-4 lead with 5:38 left to play in the opening stanza. The Blue Demons’ counterattack was led by Jorie Allen, a 6’ 0” graduate student from Bedford, IN.
Allen posed a matchup problem for the Tigers throughout the first half. The 2019 Indiana Miss Basketball award winner led the Blue Demons with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
A jumper by Allen at the buzzer gave the Blue Demons a five-point lead at the end of the first quarter, 19-14. DePaul was hot from the field in the opening stanza, connecting on 8 of 14 shots for 57.1% shooting.
But the real story of the opening frame was Princeton’s failure to control the boards. The taller Tigers were out-scrapped and out-rebounded 10-3 by DePaul in the first quarter.
The Tigers came roaring back in the second quarter behind the play of St. Rose. The sensational junior guard scored ten straight points for the Tigers, trimming DePaul’s lead to 26-24 with 5:35 to play in the first half.
During her 10-point streak, St. Rose displayed scoring touch from all over the court, hitting two right side threes and two midrange jumpers.
The junior from Old Bridge, N.J. has opened the season with two very strong performances, including her first career double-double in Princeton’s season-opening loss on Monday at Duquesne.
Princeton’s second-quarter energy flipped the game to the road team. An offensive rebound and putback by Taylor Charles erased DePaul’s lead, knotting the game at 26.
Charles contributed quality minutes off the bench for Princeton coach Carla Berube. The 6-foot-2 senior from Elgin, Ill. made the most of her opportunity to play in her hometown, registering four points, two rebounds and two assists in 10 minutes of play.
The Tigers ended the half on a 10-0 run to take a 37-31 lead into the locker room. St. Rose led all scorers with 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting.
The key to the Tigers’ turnaround in the second quarter was their ability to take control of the boards. After getting outrebounded in the opening stanza by seven, Princeton returned the favor and outrebounded the Blue Demons by seven in the second quarter, 13-6.
In the third quarter, St. Rose and her teammates picked up where they had left off, scoring the first six points of the frame.
The scoring began when Ashley Chea hit St. Rose on a backdoor cut for a nifty layup.
Chea shook off an uneven first half and guided the Tigers to victory in the second half. The sophomore guard from Montebello, Calif. tallied 11 points, second-highest on the team, and distributed a game-high five assists.
One of those assists provided the highlight of the game. At the 8:28 mark of the third quarter, Chea stripped the ball from DePaul junior guard Taylor Johnson-Matthews and whipped a no-look pass to Fadima Tall for an easy lay-in to put the Tigers up by double-digits, 41-31.
The third quarter ended with the Tigers firmly in control, 58-38.
In the fourth quarter, the Tigers continued to wear down the smaller Blue Demons.
A mini-run by DePaul was quelled when Olivia Hutcherson corralled a three-point miss by St. Rose and put the ball through the hoop to make it 65-48 with 5:55 to play.
Hutcherson provided productive minutes off the bench, scoring four points and hauling in a game-high eight rebounds.
From there, the Tigers coasted to victory as Berube was able to play her entire bench.
Freshman Emily Eadie, a 6-foot forward from Newport Beach, Calif., made her collegiate debut late in the game, netting a jumper and dishing an assist in three minutes of play.
Toby Nweke, sister of Princeton great Chet Nweke, also made her debut in orange and black, playing 11 minutes and depositing two pretty shots into the bucket for four points on 2-for-3 shooting.
Another bright spot for the Tigers was the play of Tabitha Amanze, a 6-foot- junior from Ogun, Nigeria. Amanze came off the bench to post nine points, five rebounds and three assists.
Perhaps most importantly, Amanze blocked four shots and used her size and length to prevent DePaul from establishing much of an inside game in the second half.
If Amanze continues to dominate in the paint the way she did on Saturday afternoon, it will be hard to see how the coaching staff can keep her out of the starting lineup.
The win should serve as an important confidence-booster for a young Tigers squad.
Princeton returns to action on Wed., Nov. 13, against another Big East member, Villanova, in the Tigers’ home opener at Jadwin Gym.