The Princeton women’s basketball team started the new year and Ivy League season right where they left off in 2025: coming from behind in the fourth quarter to scratch out victories on the road.
The Tigers’ newest victim was an old rival, the Penn Quakers, whom the Tigers outlasted, 74-68, at the Palestra on Saturday afternoon.
Penn suffered its 15th straight setback to Princeton, but if there is any such thing as a silver lining in losing, the Quakers can find one in this game. After outplaying Princeton for nearly three quarters of the game, the Quakers showed they are a legitimate contender in the Ancient Eight this season.
Here are three Tigers takeaways from No. 25 Princeton’s 11th consecutive win on the season:
1. The “Comeback Cats” used up another of their nine lives to win today at the Palestra.
The Tigers knew they were in for a battle coming into this matchup with one of their oldest rivals.
Both teams were obviously fired up about starting their Ivy seasons, but these days any team playing Princeton has an extra incentive to win.
“You know if you beat us, you’re getting a top-25 win,” Carla Berube told ESPN+ after her Tigers scored a miraculous comeback victory at George Mason.
The Tigers only needed a comeback of the normal variety to prevail Saturday. In fact, the only reason Princeton needed a comeback at all was due to poor shooting early in the fourth quarter, which the Tigers normally dominate.
After missing their first seven shots of the final stanza, the Tigers completely surrendered a nine-point lead to the Quakers and eventually trailed by four points, 61-57, with under six minutes to play.
But after a Berube timeout, the Tigers began to execute again behind the play of their rock and foundation, Madison St. Rose.
Princeton’s senior co-captain came through with clutch shooting to lift the Tigers to a 17-7 run to close out the game.
Earlier in the first quarter, St. Rose rose up from behind the free throw line to swish a signature mid-range jumper for her 1,000th point in a Princeton uniform. With the bucket, the superstar senior became Princeton’s 29th player to surpass the 1,000-point plateau.
St. Rose did her usual stat sheet stuffing thing, scoring 15 points, grabbing four rebounds, dishing three assists, and stealing the ball three times.
It was Princeton’s eighth fourth quarter comeback victory of the season and sixth road triumph.
The Tigers continue to demonstrate unbounded resilience in game after game.
While beating Penn by only six points won’t impress the algorithms that determine the NET rankings, Princeton reaffirmed its identity as a team that won’t back down in crunch time.
2. A star is born: Olivia Hutcherson is emerging as an All-Ivy talent.
The seven other coaches in the Ivy League must be watching Princeton women’s basketball this season and saying to themselves, “Great, just what we all needed – another star player in a Princeton jersey.”
Last year, Olivia Hutcherson emerged onto the Ivy League scene as a defensive stopper. This season, the junior forward has developed into a bona-fide star who displays elite talent at both ends of the floor.
Hutcherson went off for 20 points against Penn on Saturday, a career high. She also came away with five rebounds, three assists, three steals and a game-high two blocks.
With the game on the line in the fourth quarter and Princeton needing a score to build a two-possession lead, Hutcherson took a cross-court pass from Skye Belker, drove to the tin, and scored over Katie Collins with 2:47 to play in the game.
While the kids in the audience celebrated the scoreboard reading 6-7, Orange and Black Nation celebrated Princeton’s best player on the day beating Penn’s best player on the day with the game hanging in the balance.
Indeed, Hutcherson did get the best of Collins throughout most of this contest.
Even though Penn’s top scorer got her 15 points, she expended 15 shots in the process.
The junior forward Hutcherson, on the other hand, exploded for a career-best 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting.
In her last five games, Hutcherson has scored 82 points or 16.2 points per game, tied with St. Rose for tops on the team.
At the rate she’s growing and producing, Hutcherson looks like a sure bet to win All-Ivy honors.
3. Stop the presses: Princeton’s bench comes to the rescue!
During the nonconference season, one of Princeton’s biggest weaknesses was the play of its bench.
Averaging only nine points per game, Princeton’s bench came into today’s contest ranked 358th in the nation in scoring, second-lowest in the nation.
But today, Toby Nweke and Taylor Charles came off the bench to rescue the Tigers with 14 points, nine rebounds and four steals.
Nweke provided an especially powerful boost in the first half with two corner threes, including a dagger shot at the end of the first quarter to cap a dominant Princeton performance in the opening stanza.
In the second half, the bench hero was Taylor Charles, who provided a huge defensive boost with her post play.
The senior co-captain also drained a clutch three to reestablish Princeton’s lead late in the fourth quarter and complete Princeton’s comeback.
Overall, it was another balanced and poised performance by an uber-talented Princeton squad that continues to look like a team of destiny.