Ashley Chea

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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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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No. 23 Princeton women’s basketball defeats Yale on senior day to claim an outright Ivy League title

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The No. 23 Princeton women’s basketball team wore down Yale on Senior Day at Jadwin Gym, 78-55, to claim its 19th Ivy League regular-season title, the most of any program in Ancient Eight history.

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LISTEN: No. 25 Princeton women’s basketball stymies Harvard at Lavietes Pavilion

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Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark recaps a 62-49 win for No. 25 Princeton women’s basketball (23-3, 11-2 Ivy) at Harvard (16-10, 9-4) Saturday night:

No. 25 Princeton women’s basketball demolishes Dartmouth for second 50-point road win in program history

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The No. 25 Princeton women’s basketball team reached rarefied air on Friday night by shellacking the Dartmouth Big Green, 97-47, at Leede Arena in Hanover to record just the second 50-point road win in program history.

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Princeton women’s basketball is at an inflection point after a challenging road weekend

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The Princeton women’s basketball team ran to the locker room at the intermission of their Saturday night contest at Cornell knowing that its season was suddenly on the brink.

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No. 24 Princeton women’s basketball uses strong defensive second-half effort to speed past Cornell

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Princeton women’s basketball looked every bit like a team that had to endure a four-hour bus trip from Manhattan to Ithaca after a high-profile loss on Friday night, being outplayed and outhustled by Cornell over the opening 20 minutes of Saturday’s contest.

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Tiger Takeaways from No. 20 Princeton women’s basketball’s 15th consecutive win over Brown

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Neither rain, nor sleet, nor a winter storm on the East Coast could keep the No. 20 Princeton women’s basketball team from grinding out another road win, 58-49, over Brown on Saturday afternoon at the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, R.I.

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