The Princeton women’s basketball team started its run for a seventh consecutive Ivy League championship in style on Saturday afternoon with a dominating win over Cornell, 72-39, at Jadwin Gymnasium.
Princeton led wire-t0-wire for a fifth consecutive game to open Ivy League play at 1-0. The Tigers have not trailed in their last 200 minutes of basketball.
Cornell fell to 4-10 and 0-1 in conference play.
Once again, the Tigers got off to a fast start. Parker Hill easily won the opening tap and then deposited Princeton’s first points on a nice bank shot in the paint. After a late shot-clock make by Paige Engels got Cornell on the scoreboard, Hill tallied again in the paint after a beautiful entry pass by Skye Belker.
Hill feasted all game long on Cornell’s smaller front court, scoring a career-high 18 points on an astounding 9-for-11 effort from the field.
Mid way through the first quarter, Fadima Tall sparked an 8-0 run with a signature moon-shot trey followed by an old-fashioned three-point play. The Tigers led 12-4 with 5:43 to play in the first quarter.
After the first media timeout, Belker found Tabitha Amanze streaking through the lane for a layup. A mid-range jumper by Ashley Chea, another trey by Tall, and a long outlet pass from Chea to Belker for a layup gave Princeton its first double-digit lead, 20-9 with 2:39 remaining in the opening stanza.
Cornell called timeout to stop the bleeding. But the Big Red had no answer for Princeton’s superior size and athleticism.
The Tigers led 23-11 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Princeton essentially put the game away. Parker Hill found a wide open Katie Thiers under the basket for an easy two points.
Cornell tried to establish Emily Pape, their top scorer at 13.8 points per game, but Tiger defenders swarmed the 6-foot-1 junior whenever she touched the ball. Pape finished with only two points on 1-for-7 shooting.
Meanwhile, the Tigers used a 13-2 run to end the quarter, punctuated by a highlight-reel backdoor pass from Chea to Olivia Hutcherson, who double-pumped the ball off the glass and through the hoop.
Princeton took a 38-19 lead into the intermission. The Tigers were led by Hill and Tall, who each tallied 12 points in the first half. Princeton dominated inside, outscoring the Big Red 26-10 in the paint.
In the third quarter, the Tigers continued to stretch their lead. Chea led the way, scoring five straight points on two free throws and a corner three to put the Tigers up 43-21.
A pair of late layups by Taylor Charles closed the scoring as Princeton took a commanding 56-28 lead into the fourth quarter. The 6-foot-2 forward from Elgin, Ill. scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds, the former a career high.
A scary moment for the Tigers occurred early in the third quarter when Skye Belker toppled over Engels and fell to the floor while attempting to garner a loose ball. The sophomore guard and Princeton’s leading scorer took the bench and never returned to the game, apparently having tweaked an already tender ankle.
Belker appeared to have a limited range of movement throughout the contest and scored only two points on 1-for-8 shooting in 14 minutes of playing time. The Tigers will need for her to return to form when they face stiffer competition.
In the fourth quarter, Princeton cruised to victory as coach Carla Berube mostly used bench players to close out the contest.
One exception was Chea, who remained in the game. The 5-foot-8 guard from Montebello, Calif. drained a trey and displayed her versatility with a pretty fall away jumper. Chea stuffed the scoresheet with 14 points, five rebounds, two steals, and a game-high seven assists.
A bright spot for Cornell was the play of Summer Parker-Hall, who tallied a team high 11 points on 4-for-9 shooting. Paige Engels also made her mark with nine points and six rebounds.
Several players for the Tigers were stellar on Saturday, including Chea, Tall, and Charles, but the easy choice for the ESPN Player of the Game was Parker Hill, who scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, both career highs.
“I prioritize passing the ball usually, and so I look for my best shots before I take one,” Hill told the ESPN+ broadcast crew after the game. “I kept it up today, and luckily, I just had some good mismatches and some great passes for my teammates.”
The win was Princeton’s fifth in a row and their 24th consecutive triumph at home, the third longest streak in the nation.
The Tigers will have a week off to prepare (and heal Belker’s ankle) for the biggest game of their season so far, a Jan. 11 clash at 2 p.m. at Jadwin Gym with the Harvard Crimson.