On a Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Taylor Charles served up a record-tying seven helpings of stuffing as the Princeton women’s basketball team rolled over the DePaul Blue Demons, 71-41, in a Sunday matinee at Jadwin Gymnasium.
Getting her first start of the season, Charles made the most of her opportunity.
The senior c0-captain from Elgin, Ill. scored five points, grabbed a career-high nine rebounds and recorded seven rejections to put her name in the Princeton record book alongside Bella Alarie for most blocks in a game. Alarie also achieved seven blocks in a 2017 clash with Brown.
Charles got the start in favor of Fadima Tall, who is nursing a biceps injury she suffered in the Bahamas at the Battle 4 Atlantis earlier in the week. According to reporting by the ESPN+ announcers, Tall could have played today if needed. But thanks to another stalwart defensive effort by her teammates, Tall was able to sit out today and recuperate in advance of a challenging Tuesday matchup against visiting Seton Hall.
In addition to Charles’ heroics, the other big story of the day for Princeton (7-1) against DePaul (2-6) was the reemergence of Ashley Chea.
Chea exorcised her shooting demons (as well as the Blue Demons) by hitting six three-pointers to lead all scorers with 22 points, a season high. Chea also contributed five rebounds, four assists, and a steal to the cause.
But the real difference maker for the Tigers today was the team’s overall defensive effort.
Regardless of who was in the game for Carla Berube’s club, the Tigers guarded closely and rarely allowed DePaul to get an open look. And when the Demons were able to find space to shoot, they were typically off the mark, tallying only 15 field goals on 65 attempts for a woeful 23 percent shooting.
“We really pride ourselves on the defensive end, so we really stress communication.” Charles told the ESPN+ broadcast crew after the game. “I know that my thing is defense. At the start of the season, I knew that I didn’t have to put up 20 points [a night], but I just needed to go out there and get stops for the team. That’s what we needed today, and that’s what we did.”
Meanwhile, the Tigers were efficient when they had the ball, converting 28 of 67 shots for a respectable 42% from the field.
The game started on a strong note for the Tigers with Skye Belker hitting a pull-up jumper off the glass to open the scoring.
The reigning Ivy League Player of the Week was deadly accurate shooting the ball again today, hitting seven of 15 shots for 15 points. Belker stuffed the stat sheet with a career-high eight rebounds and a game-high five assists.
After the Tigers got a stop on their opening defensive stand, Chea hit the first of her six treys with a second-chance bomb from the wing to push the Tigers to a 5-0 lead.
It must have felt good for Chea to see her first shot go down as the junior entered the game on a cold streak. In her last outing at Rhode Island, Chea made only 1 of 10 shots. The unanimous All-Ivy First Team guard from a season ago entered the contest today shooting only 22% from distance.
Another stop on defense led to a Princeton runout and layup by Madison St. Rose to put the Tigers up 7-0. The Tigers’ leading scorer so far this season finished with only nine points on 3-for-12 shooting, but contributed in other ways with 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal in only 28 minutes of playing time.
Meanwhile, DePaul couldn’t buy a bucket, missing nine of its first 10 shots.
For the third game in a row, the Tigers finished the first stanza in plus territory, leading 17-8.
In the second quarter, the Tigers stretched their lead to 24-10 behind a series of stops and an old-fashioned three-point play by St. Rose.
After another missed shot by DePaul, Charles ripped down a defensive board and found Chea for a three-pointer to put the Tigers up 29-12. Another Chea trey moments later gave the Tigers a 20-point lead, 32-12, with just five minutes to play in the first half.
But the Blue Demons fought back.
Feeding the Tigers a dose of their own medicine, DePaul amped up its defensive energy, guarding the Tigers fiercely and forcing Princeton into turnovers and empty possessions. The Blue Demons closed the half on a 13-5 run to shave the deficit to 12 points, 37-25, at the intermission.
In the second half, the Tigers quickly put the game away.
An over the shoulder pass by Emily Eadie to Charles in the paint resulted in a layup to extend Princeton’s lead to 17, 44-27, with five minutes to play in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, the Tigers locked down on defense and prevented DePaul from scoring a bucket until nearly eight minutes had been played in the stanza.
A gorgeous fallaway jumper by Belker put the Tigers up by 23, 54-31, at the 1:16 mark of the third quarter. The game was effectively over.
In the final stanza, the Tigers’ defense continued to grind away as DePaul continued to miss shots.
A jump shot by Toby Nweke gave the sophomore guard a season high nine points and pushed the lead to thirty, 66-36, with 4:13 left to play. An open triple by Charles finished the scoring for the Tigers, who completed a wire-to-wire domination of DePaul, 71-41.
The triumph gave Princeton its fifth consecutive win and second triumph this season over a Big East foe. Princeton defeated Villanova, 73-67, on Nov. 13 in Philadelphia.
The Tigers will have an opportunity to sweep the Big East for the second season in a row when they host in-state rival Seton Hall on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET at Jadwin Gym.