So much for the adage that it’s hard to beat a team three times in the same season.
The No. 1-seeded Princeton women’s basketball team defeated No. 3 Harvard in the Ivy League Tournament final on Saturday night, 63-53, completing a three-game season sweep of the Crimson and earning the Ivy League’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
On Friday night, the Tigers vanquished Brown, also for a third time in 2026, in the opening semifinal of the Ivy League Tournament.
Although the Tigers led for 94% of the Saturday night’s championship game and never trailed after the first quarter, the win over Harvard didn’t come easily.
A furious fourth-quarter rally by the Crimson tied the game three times in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
But this Princeton squad has been most determined in crunch time, and a 12-2 run to close the game cemented the Tigers’ championship.
“We had to fight to the very end and that last three minutes,” reflected coach Carla Berube in her postgame press conference. “But that was really great, great basketball. I love the way we shared [the ball] and got big stops. That’s Princeton basketball.”
With the win, the Tigers notched their 26th victory of the season, the most by any Ivy League team since Princeton finished 26-1 in the COVID-19-shortened 2019-20 campaign.
They also avenged their loss to Harvard in last year’s Ivy Madness.
“We felt we had something taken from us last year, and we knew coming into this we had to sweep teams that we beat twice, or teams we hadn’t beaten at all,” Fadima Tall, the tournament MVP, said postgame. “But we come into every single game with a championship mentality. We told ourselves it’s us who’s going to win this game, us who’s going to lose this game, so I think keeping each other accountable the entire day, and throughout this entire trip, made us able to bounce back from last night.”
For Harvard, the loss was a crushing blow after the Crimson triumphed over Columbia in a thrilling, overtime semifinal.
“I just felt like we missed some moments to really connect and attack them,” lamented Harvard coach Carrie Moore. “As a unit, I thought we fought, as we always do. And we were able to tie it with four [minutes] to go, but then we just unraveled in those next two, two and half minutes, and that was probably the difference in the game. So, credit to Princeton, obviously. They’re ranked for a reason. I thought they out-toughed us a little bit. It’s just very unfortunate, because I thought this was going to go a different way today.”
It didn’t go Harvard’s way in part because the Crimson, famous for turning opponents over with their suffocating press, couldn’t take care of the ball.
After winning the opening tip, Harvard immediately turned the ball over when Karlee White was whistled for an offensive foul. Turnovers became the theme of the quarter for the Crimson, who gave the ball away six times in the first five and a half minutes and 17 times overall.
The Tigers took advantage.
On Princeton’s first possession, Skye Belker drove to the tin and was blocked by Abigail Wright. But Fadima Tall was there for the put back to lift the Tigers to a 2-0 lead. Moments later, an Olivia Hutcherson put back of another Belker miss gave the Tigers an early 4-2 lead.
A strip and score by Tall followed by a drive and finish by Hutcherson pushed Princeton’s lead to 10-5, at the first media timeout with 4:21 to go in the first quarter. Hutcherson finished with a stout stat line of 12 points, six rebounds, an assist and three steals.
A mid-range jumper by White at the horn salvaged the opening stanza for Harvard, who trailed the Tigers 15-7 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Harvard pushed back as Princeton got whistled for a bevy of fouls.
A second chance three-pointer by White after a Harvard offensive rebound cut Princeton’s lead to 15-10. Moments later, St. Rose picked up her second foul and was sent to the bench.
A layup by Katie Krupa at the 6:18 mark of the second quarter cut the lead to four, 17-13, before Ashley Chea hit a desperation three late in the shot clock to staunch the bleeding. The 5-foot-8 junior sharpshooter scored 13 points on five-for nine shooting and turned around her season with a sensational weekend of clutch shooting, timely rebounding, and all around playmaking. For her efforts, Chea was named to the All-Tournament Team.
“We all saw that Ashley had some struggles, and I just wanted her to keep her confidence up,” Berube said of Chea postgame. “She is a tremendous, tremendous player, skilled and athletic, and she just got that swagger back. I knew she had it in her and she certainly found it at the right time.”
The Crimson closed the half on a mini-run, courtesy of sophomore reserve guard Nina Emnace, who tallied a gorgeous driving layup and then hit a buzzer beating triple to end the first half on a high note for Harvard.
Despite the Crimson’s push in the second quarter, the Tigers led 33-24 at the intermission.
Princeton was led in the first half by Tall’s 13 points, four rebounds and four steals. The Crimson were paced by Olivia Jones’ eight points and five rebounds. The Tigers dominated in the paint, outscoring Harvard 22-8.
In the third quarter, Harvard came out determined to throw a haymaker at the Tigers.
On the Crimson’s first possession, Jones took the ball aggressively to the hoop against Chea for an and-one layup. Moments later, a layup by Abigail Wright cut the Tigers’ lead to four, 33-29, only two minutes into the third quarter.
When Harvard’s press finally forced a Princeton turnover, it looked like the Crimson were in business.
But Princeton’s defense held firm, and got a stop. That allowed the Tigers to establish St. Rose in the lane, who tallied twice off the glass to repel the Harvard push. The senior co-captain finished with only seven points in her final Ivy League contest but contributed invaluable leadership along with four critical assists and three rebounds.
But an 8-2 run by Harvard to close the quarter kept the Crimson in contact.
A put-back by Lydia Chatira of a missed turn around jumper by Krupa capped the third quarter scoring as Harvard won the third frame 13-10 and trimmed Princeton’s lead to 43-37 heading into the final frame.
In the fourth quarter, the Crimson amped up the energy on the offensive boards and turned the screws on Princeton’s backcourt. A pair of second chance layups by White made it a two point game, 45-43, with eight minutes and change to play.
But Tall responded with a clutch play in the paint to pad the Tigers lead to four, 47-43. The indefatigable junior forward led all scorers with 20 points, and hauled down a team high seven rebounds. For her relentless efforts, Tall was named the Tournament MVP, the sixth time a Tigers player has earned such recognition in the eight-year history of Ivy Madness.
But Harvard wasn’t done.
A jumper by White followed by a Krupa layup tied the game at 47 with 5:33 to go.
Chea responded with a drive to the tin for two, but another White put-back of her own miss tied the game again at the 4:55 mark.
Chea drove to the hoop yet again, drew a foul, and converted two free throws to put the Tigers back in front, 51-49.
White countered with another put-back, her fifth offensive board of the game, to tie the game for a third time at 51 with four minutes left on the clock.
But Princeton has won games all year long by responding to adversity late in games and tonight was no exception. With the game on the line, the Tigers executed their offense to perfection on three straight possessions, all ending in Hutcherson lay-ins from the right post.
“When we came out of the timeout, we just said, like, we need to go on a run,” recalled Hutcherson postgame. “We were tied, and we needed to get stops. We needed to get scores. Both teams, of course, were super-tired. They had a super-long game last night. We had a tough game yesterday as well. But for me, I was just trying to run the floor. My teammates were finding me open and I was finishing.”
Hutcherson’s heroics put the Tigers back in control, 57-51, with 2:28 to play.
From there, the Tigers closed out the game by getting stops and hitting free throws to cement their sixth Ivy League Tournament championship in the last eight years.
After the game, Berube offered her explanation of how this Tigers team of destiny has managed to win so many games in crunch time.
“I think this happened today because we had the experience in the nonconference and having so many tight games. I mean, they just look at each other and they say, ‘We got this.’ And I know it sounds cliche [to say, but] it’s about the connectedness and togetherness they have off the court, it shows on the court. It shows in big moments and when the lights are brightest that they’re going to make plays for each other. They are resilient, they’re tough, and they love this game. But the most important part is they love playing together and for each other, and I think that’s what makes it such a joy to coach a team like this, and I’m just really grateful and proud of them.”
Princeton (26-3) will await word as to its seed and first-round opponent when the NCAA Selection Committee releases the Tournament bracket on Sunday night.
ESPN bracketology guru Charlie Creme projects that the Tigers will be shipped to Durham, N.C. as a No. 10 seed.
If that prediction holds, it will mark the fifth time this season that Princeton has traveled south of the Mason-Dixon line to play an out-of-conference opponent. The Tigers opened the season by overcoming Georgia Tech in Atlanta, then dropped their only nonconference tilt of the season at Maryland before notching wins at Belmont in Nashville and George Mason in Fairfax, Va.
With Princeton playing some of their best basketball of the season, the post-season may just be getting started for the No. 23 Tigers.
“I think that things are clicking defensively, which it took a while for us to get going throughout the season,” Berube said. “So I hope we can keep moving forward and represent the Ivy League on the national stage. I’m excited to see where we’re headed, and looking forward to the week ahead, just because we can still be together.”
“We’re definitely not done yet,” quipped Tall, sporting a piece of newly cut-down net around her ear.
Very thorough recap of an exciting game.