Late collapse sinks Harvard women’s basketball at Wisconsin, Columbia triumphs at Cal in WBIT quarterfinals

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With Harvard up 56-49 with 39 seconds left in regulation, a quarterfinal WBIT win looked inevitable and many Wisconsin fans could be seen heading to the exit of the Kohl Center.

The Badgers, though, had faith in themselves, hitting big shots and forcing multiple Crimson turnovers to improbably send the game into overtime.

Wisconsin held onto a one-point lead with three seconds left on the scoreboard when 5-foot-2 senior guard Ronnie Porter was called for a foul against Harvard’s Abigail Wright that would send the junior forward to the line for two free throws.

Given an extra challenge call in overtime, the Badgers’ coaching staff asked for a review and the call was ultimately reversed, sending the home team and their fans into a frenzy.

After graduate guard Destiny Howell sank two free throws, Harvard junior guard Karlee White had one last chance to send the game into double overtime, but her three-pointer from the top of the key hit high off the backboard and the Crimson season ended with a 64-61 defeat.

Had Harvard won, it would have faced Columbia in a WBIT semifinal matchup after the Lions, as a No. 4 seed, topped No. 3 California on the road, 74-68, after the Harvard-Wisconsin game Thursday night.

Columbia held off the Golden Bears by finishing the game on an 8-2 run in the final 2:06 after the hosts pulled ahead at 67-66, a run strung together with key shots from junior guard Riley Weiss and senior guard/forward Perri Page. Those two combined to deliver 46 of Columbia’s 74 points, setting up the Lions to face Wisconsin in a semifinal showdown in Wichita, Kan. Monday at a time to be determined.

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Reflecting on Carla Berube’s departure and the state of Princeton women’s basketball

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Princeton coach Carla Berube answers questions at Pauley Pavilion on March 20, 2026 ahead of a first-round NCAA Tournament matchup against Oklahoma State. (Steve Silverman | Ivy Hoops Online) 

It’s been a tumultuous five days for Princeton women’s basketball. 

On Saturday night, the Tigers’ memorable season came to a crashing halt at 26-4 in a humbling 82-68 loss to Oklahoma State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Then, four days later, Princeton coach Carla Berube announced she was leaving Old Nassau for purpler pastures at Northwestern.

Now, Orange and Black nation is holding its collective breath waiting to see if any Princeton players will defect with Berube to Northwestern, where they can earn athletic scholarships and NIL dollars while plying their craft on a larger stage than the one offered by Princeton.

And yet only a fortnight ago, Princeton women’s basketball appeared to be resurgent.

The Tigers had won an unexpected outright Ivy League championship on the last day of the regular season when they handled business at home against Yale and then watched Harvard upset Columbia in Morningside Heights.

Then, a week later at Ivy Madness in Ithaca, the Tigers powered their way past Brown and Havard to win their fifth Ivy League Tournament championship in the past eight years and their seventh consecutive trip to the Big Dance.

Why did everything suddenly go south for Princeton women’s basketball and where does the program go from here?

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Carla Berube leaves Princeton women’s basketball for head coaching job at Northwestern

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Then-Princeton women’s basketball coach Carla Berube answers questions at Pauley Pavilion on March 20, 2026, ahead of a first-round NCAA Tournament matchup against Oklahoma State that turned out to be her final game at Princeton’s helm. (Steve Silverman | Ivy Hoops Online)

The Carla Berube era at Princeton is over.

In an announcement Wednesday that reverberated instantly throughout the world of women’s college basketball, Princeton Athletics announced that Tigers coach Carla Berube had accepted the head coaching position at Northwestern.

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Columbia, Harvard women’s basketball rout North Dakota State, Eastern Kentucky respectively in WBIT second round

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Immediately after losing to Harvard women’s basketball in the Ivy League semifinal, Columbia senior forward Perri Page said in no uncertain terms, “We are winning the WBIT. I can tell you that right now.”

Two games in, Columbia are more than backing up Page. After demolishing St. John’s 74–26 at home on Thursday, the Lions (22–8, 11–3 Ivy) romped past North Dakota State (29–5, 15–1 Summit), 86–57, in Columbia’s first-ever trip to the Peace Garden State. 

“Our team has done a great job of turning the page,” Columbia coach Megan Griffith told ESPN+ after the game.

Harvard, which dispatched Columbia from the Ivy League Tournament after spoiling the latter’s Ivy League title pursuit late in the season, took care of business at Lavietes Pavilion to advance from the WBIT’s second round simultaneously Sunday, holding Eastern Kentucky to just two first-quarter points en route to a 63-34 win.

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No. 9 Princeton women’s basketball falls to No. 8 Oklahoma State in NCAA Tournament first round

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Princeton’s Olivia Hutcherson (2) jumps ball against Oklahoma State’s Achol Akot (11) in a NCAA Tournament first-round matchup at Pauley Pavilion on March 21, 2026. (Steve Silverman | Ivy Hoops Online)

LOS ANGELES – A stellar season for the Princeton women’s basketball team came to an abrupt end at Pauley Pavilion today as the No. 9 Tigers fell to No. 8 Oklahoma State, 82-68, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“[This] was not the outcome we were hoping for,” said a disappointed coach Carla Berube in the postgame press conference for Princeton (26-4). “Of course, a ton of credit to Oklahoma State. They were really tough. They made things really, really hard for us on both ends of the floor.”

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No. 9 Princeton v. No. 8 Oklahoma State: 2026 NCAA Tournament Round of 64 women’s preview

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Princeton’s Skye Belker, Madison St. Rose and Fadima Tall answer questions at a NCAA Tournament press conference at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on March 20, 2026. (Steve Silverman | Ivy Hoops Online)

LOS ANGELES – When No. 9 Princeton women’s basketball (26-3) takes on No. 8 Oklahoma State (23-9) in a NCAA Tournament Round of 64 matchup on Saturday afternoon at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, they’ll be looking at a mirror image of themselves.

And not just because the Cowgirls also wear orange and black. 

Both teams are near look-alikes in how they are configured and play the game. 

“When you size up our rosters, I think we’re dang near identical,” quipped Oklahoma State coach Jacie Hoyt at Friday’s pregame press conference.

The Tigers’ trademark all season has been balanced scoring, with all five starters averaging double-digit scoring per game. Ditto for Oklahoma State, which also has five players averaging double digits.

And both teams rank among the nation’s highest in adjusted offensive efficiency, with the Cowgirls coming in at No. 23 in the Torvik rankings while Princeton slots in at 30th. 

But the resemblance doesn’t end there.

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Quakeaways from No. 14 Penn men’s basketball’s NCAA Tournament loss to No. 3 Illinois

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The Penn men’s basketball team and supporters take in the scene after Penn’s 105-70 loss to Illinois in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. on March 19, 2026. (Ian Wenik/Ivy Hoops Online)

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Undermanned and outgunned, No. 14 Penn men’s basketball put up a fight against No. 3 Illinois in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the better part of a half.

But that was all the Quakers could muster in what wound up as a 105-70 defeat.

The Quakers (18-12) entered Thursday night’s matchup against the Fighting Illini with its two best players compromised. Leading scorer Ethan Roberts had been ruled out earlier in the week after suffering his second concussion of the season, while TJ Power, the hero of last week’s Ivy League Tournament, fell ill in the days leading up to the game and needed what coach Fran McCaffery estimated were four or five IVs to even be able to play.

“TJ wasn’t himself,” McCaffery said during a postgame press conference. The junior forward — who rarely comes off the floor — went back to the locker room twice during the game and was too ill to join his teammates as they showed their appreciation to a strong contingent of Quakers fans.

“When I took him out that last time, I was not going to put him back in the game,” McCaffery said of Power. “It would not have been fair to him.”

As for the action on the court itself? It was no surprise that the size of Illinois, the nation’s tallest team by average height, dictated the game. Penn actually outshot the Fighting Illini in the first half but entered the locker room down 10 points because Illinois had racked up 16 second-chance points and a plus-14 rebounding margin.

The Quakers cut the deficit to nine with about 16:45 to play after wing Michael Zanoni bounced in a straightaway three, but Illinois immediately responded with a 14-2 run which effectively ended the game.

For Penn, the book is officially sealed on its 2025-26 season. What did Penn fans learn from its final chapter?

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Columbia and Harvard women’s basketball cruise over St. John’s, Navy in WBIT opening round

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After two straight losses to Harvard women’s basketball derailed Columbia from regular and postseason Ivy League titles, senior guard Perri Page made her feelings known moments after being knocked out of the Ivy League Tournament.

“We all got to be bought in and go all into whatever we do,” the First Team All-Ivy and Defensive Player of the Year told assembled media last Friday night. “We are winning the WBIT. I can tell you that right now.”

Page and her teammates put the rest of the tournament on notice Thursday night, jumping out to a quick lead and cruising to a 74-26 rout of St. John’s at Levien Gymnasium.

The opening-round win improves the No. 4-seeded Lions record to 21-8 (11-4 Ivy League) on the season and a game on the road at North Dakota State, the No. 1 seed in their quadrant, on Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

For its part, Harvard notched a comfortable WBIT opening-round home win of its own simultaneously Thursday night, dispatching Navy, 73-52. The win for the Crimson (19-11, 10-4) over the Midshipmen (22-9, 15-2 Patriot) set the victors up for a second-round matchup hosting Eastern Kentucky at a time to be determined Sunday.

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2025-26 IHO Men’s All-Ivy Awards

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The Ivy League announced its major men’s awards Wednesday. But we know this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Ivy Hoops Online’s 2025-26 All-Ivy Awards, as determined by IHO’s contributors prior to the 2026 Ivy League Tournament:

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