The Princeton women’s basketball team used tenacious defense and efficient offense on Friday night to collar the Yale Bulldogs, 74-38, at Lee Amphitheater in New Haven. Yale’s 38 points were the fewest allowed by Princeton so far this season.
The Tigers raced out to a 4-0 lead when Fadima Tall found a cutting Skye Belker for a beautifully executed backdoor layup. The Tigers never looked back from there as Princeton led wire-to-wire for the seventh time in their last 10 games.
Yale got on the board in their fourth possession of the game when Kiley Capstraw took a pass from Grace Thybulle, turned the corner, and laid the ball in off the glass for two points. Capstraw turned in a strong overall performance, contributing nine points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal to the Bulldogs’ cause.
But whenever Yale managed to execute and score, the Tigers came right back with an answer. More often, the Bulldogs were forced into turnovers by Princeton’s stingy, matchup defense. In the face of Princeton’s ball pressure, the Bulldogs coughed up the ball up eight times in the first quarter alone and 20 times for the game.
Meanwhile, the Tigers methodically established their post players as they have often done this season. Parker Hill, the hero of Princeton’s 62-54 win at Cornell last weekend, converted her first shot of the night with a nifty hook off the glass to put the Tigers up 6-2. Then, Ashley Chea picked Mackenzie Egger’s pocket and took the ball coast-to-coast to put the Tigers up 8-2 with 5:40 to play in the opening stanza.
Egger retaliated with a trey to make it 8-5 at the first TV timeout. The senior guard/forward from Mount Pleasant, Mich., came into the game as the fifth-leading scorer in the Ivy League, averaging 15.8 points per game. She lived up to billing in this game, tallying a game-high 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting. She also hauled in a game-high 12 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season.
A gorgeous fade away jumper by Chea at the buzzer found the bottom of the net as the Tigers staked themselves to a 15-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. For the ninth game in a row, the Tigers managed to hold their opponent to single digits in at least one quarter.
In the second quarter, the two teams traded baskets before Olivia Hutcherson, back in Carla Berube’s starting lineup after missing the Cornell game last weekend with an injury, put back a Hill miss to give the Tigers their first double-digit lead, 19-9, with 6:23 to play in the first half. Hutcherson displayed her athleticism by ripping down five rebounds and scoring four points in 22 minutes of playing time.
After a Yale miss, Tall grabbed the defensive board and took the ball coast-to-coast to put the Tigers up 21-9. Tall stuffed the stat sheet in her typical fashion with 11 points, eight rebounds, two assists and three steals.
Egger worked hard to keep Yale in the game. The 6-foot senior grabbed a rebound off a miss by Chea and stepped through traffic to deposit an up and under layup to bring Yale to within ten, 25-15, with 3:49 to play.
Belker responded with her patented pull-up jumper from the elbow as the Tigers took a 27-18 lead into the intermission. Princeton was led by Ashley Chea’s nine points on 4-for-7 shooting while Yale was led by Egger’s 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting.
The story of the first half was Yale’s inability to take care of the basketball as the Bulldogs turned the ball over 13 times compared to only seven miscues for Princeton. The Tigers outscored the Bulldogs 24-14 in the paint, yet somehow the Bulldogs managed to out-rebound the taller Tigers, 17-16 in the first half.
In the third quarter, Princeton quickly re-established its dominance in the post. A putback by Hill made it 31-20. The 6-foot-4 senior center scored 10 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Hill was one of four Tigers to finish in double figures.
A layup by Tabitha Amanze off an entry pass from Belker put the Tigers up by 12, 36-24, at the 5:07 mark of the third quarter.
Belker then took over the game, canning back-to-back treys and draining two free throws to build Princeton’s lead to 46-32 at the end of the third frame. The super sophomore guard from Los Angeles led the Tigers with 15 points and four assists.
In the fourth quarter, the Tigers turned the screws on their hosts. A strong take to the cup by Tall resulted in two free throws. Then, a straightaway trey by Chea stretched Princeton’s lead to 51-32 with 8:45 to play.
Meanwhile, Yale couldn’t get anything going on offense as the Bulldogs failed to score in their first four possessions. A three-pointer by Ciniya Moore split a pair of lengthy scoring droughts for Yale as the Tigers outscored the Bulldogs 28-6 in the final 10 minutes.
A three-pointer by Taylor Charles capped the scoring and Princeton ran away with the win, 74-38. Twelve different Tigers got on the scoreboard for Carla Berube’s squad.
After the game, Belker told the ESPN+ broadcast crew how she felt about the game.
“It was good, lots of pressure, but we had to handle that,” Belker said. “And we were trying to just play our game and score the way that we know how to and run our plays right. And I think we did a great job of that.”
The Bulldogs (2-17, 1-5 Ivy) will lick their wounds tonight and go back into action tomorrow against Penn at 5:30 p.m. ET at Lee Amphitheater.
Meanwhile, Princeton (14-5, 5-1) will bus up Interstate 95 to Providence and complete a four-game road trip against Brown in a Saturday tilt that tips at 5 p.m. ET.