The Princeton women’s basketball team cruised past the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders Saturday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium, 64-51, for the Tigers’ third consecutive win. The triumph extended Princeton’s home winning streak to 23 games, tied for the third-longest in the nation.
This group of Tigers is a changed team since returning home two and a half weeks ago after starting the season with eight of its first nine games on the road. In three consecutive home wins against Rhode Island, Vermont and now Middle Tennessee State, Princeton hasn’t trailed for a second and has outscored its opponents by an overage of 13.3 points per game.
Against a Middle Tennessee State squad sporting a NET rating of 58, Princeton executed its game plan to near perfection, limiting the Blue Raiders’ daunting duo of Jalynn Gregory and Anastasiia Boldyreva to a combined 13 points. In fact, the Tigers managed to get both of the Blue Raiders’ star players in early foul trouble and eventually disqualified with five fouls.
Once again, the Tigers got out to a fast start with center Parker Hill winning the tip from the 6-foot-7 Boldyreva and Ashley Chea converting a mid-range jumper to put the home team up 2-0.
The Tigers then used tenacious defense to get three straight stops against the Blue Raiders, last year’s champion from Conference USA. Skye Belker’s two free throws increased Princeton’s lead to 4-1 after a drive to the cup drew a foul on Jada Grannum. Belker led the Tigers with 17 points, including a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe.
“That was to avenge myself from the Utah game,” Belker explained after the game to the ESPN+ broadcast crew referring to her failure to make what could have been the game winning free throws in Princeton’s agonizing loss to Utah three weeks ago. “Hopefully, I’m done missing free throws now.”
Meanwhile, Tabitha Amanze came off the bench and made an immediate impact. After inducing a travel from Boldyreva, the 6-foot-5 center from Nigeria finished at the other end with a sweeping hook shot to put the Tigers up 6-2. Amanze was one of three Princeton players to finish in double figures, tallying 10 points in 17 minutes of playing time.
Princeton’s defense held the Blue Raiders to only two field goals in the opening 10 minutes as the Tigers led 11-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. It was the second time in the last three quarters of play that Princeton had held its opponent to single digits.
In the second quarter, Fadima Tall took over the game. The 6-foot swing player ripped down a defensive rebound after a miss by Savannah Davis and dribbled coast-to-coast for a layup to put the Tigers ahead 18-10. After swatting away an entry pass intended for Boldyreva, the junior from Silver Spring, Md. swished a moonshot jumper from the free-throw line to give Princeton its first double-digit lead, 20-10, with 6:24 to play in the first half.
Tall displayed the full spectrum of her talents on Saturday with a career-high 16 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for her second double-double of the season.
Middle Tennessee State, like Princeton a preseason favorite to repeat as conference champions, appeared to grab momentum when Gregory hit a long-range trey and then converted the and-one free throw to give the Blue Raiders a rare four-point play. Gregory torched the Tigers a year ago with 21 points in a rock fight won by Princeton, 65-60.
But the Tigers immediately responded with a three by Tall, and order was restored.
Princeton took a 37-25 lead into the intermission. The Tigers were led by Tall’s 12 points and nine rebounds, nearly a double-double in the first half alone.
In the third quarter, Middle Tennessee State tried to turn up the pressure by employing a three-quarter-court press. The Tigers have struggled at times against pressure this season. But playing at home, Carla Berube’s squad has looked much more poised and confident when facing the press.
After securing a stop on defense, Chea threw a dart to a streaking Olivia Hutcherson who drew a foul on Gregory, her fourth, effectively removing the Blue Raiders’ most potent scoring threat from the game. Hutcherson made both free throws and finished with six points, but her impact extended well beyond the scoreboard. The 5-foot-11 sophomore from Johns Creek, Ga. made hustle plays all over the court, hauling in three offensive rebounds, dishing an assist, and grabbing a steal in 24 minutes of playing time.
At the end of the third quarter, the Tigers led 51-36 and appeared to have the game in hand. But an old-fashioned three-point play by Ta’Mia Scott to open the fourth quarter gave the Blue Raiders hope.
Scott provided the one bright spot of the day for Middle Tennessee with a game-high 21 points. But the junior guard from Clarksville, Tenn. missed all seven of her three-point attempts, which was emblematic of Middle Tennessee’s shooting woes throughout the game. The Blue Raiders only shot 4-for-20 from distance and 16-for-53 overall for a subpar 30.2%.
Meanwhile, Skye Belker quickly quashed any hope of a Blue Raiders comeback. The sophomore sensation scored seven straight points for the Tigers on two free throws, a midrange jumper, and a trey to put the game away. From there, the Tigers cruised to victory, 74-51.
Named the ESPN Player of the Game, Belker lauded her team’s execution of the game plan drawn up by Berube and her coaching staff.
“[T]hey’re a great team, so we definitely paid a lot of attention to the scout, making sure we knew all that, staying close on number 10, chasing her, being really in help-side with the big. She’s 6-7. So I mean, everyone did a great job did [with] their role. So we got the dub.”
This “dub” might have been Princeton’s most impressive of the season so far. The Tigers checked every box in beating one of the highest-rated mid-majors in the country. They won the rebounding battle 40-31 against an opponent with an imposing pair of post players. They handled Middle Tennessee’s pressure, committing only 12 turnovers. And most importantly, the Tigers played disciplined defense, not allowing Gregory to get open shots, limiting their fouls, and preventing Boldyreva from establishing position in the paint.
Buoyed by a three-game winning streak, Princeton (8-4) will look to close out its nonconference schedule and the calendar year in style with a New Year’s Eve tilt against Le Moyne at noon ET at Jadwin Gym.