Chet Nweke

How Princeton women’s basketball won a chess match against Columbia

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Princeton women’s basketball coach Carla Berube led the Tigers to another big win in a big game versus Columbia Saturday.

The contrast in demeanor could not have been starker.

Trailing 3-2 at the 8:23 mark of the first quarter, Columbia coach Megan Griffith gathered her team while officials reviewed a play to check for possible head contact.  Griffith smiled broadly, exuding confidence as she leaned into her team’s huddle. Her players listened and nodded while she spoke, their arms wrapped around each other in a tight circle.  

On the other sideline, a grim-looking Carla Berube paced while her Princeton players stood apart from each other, hands of their hips.  

Was there meaning in this moment?  Did Griffith’s sureness foretell an upset or was she simply trying to radiate belief in her team in the biggest game of the Ivy League season so far?

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Princeton women’s basketball takes round one over Columbia, 80-65

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Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark brings us the postgame press conference after a 80-65 win for Princeton women’s basketball (14-3, 4-0 Ivy) over Columbia (12-5, 3-1) in a key matchup in the Ivy League championship race Saturday. Senior guard Chet Nweke, sophomore guard Madison St. Rose, freshman guard Skye Belker and coach Carla Berube held court at the presser after engineering the win on the court at Jadwin Gym:

Ivy Hoops Online contributor Rob Browne recaps the action:

The Tigers, winners of nine straight, claimed sole possession of first place in the Ancient Eight, while the Lions, which had their own 10-game winning streak stopped, slipped into a three-way tie for second place with Harvard and Brown.

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Princeton women’s basketball rolls past Harvard for seventh straight win

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“We communicated well, got our hands up and worked really hard,” Princeton coach Carla Berube said to Ivy Hoops Online about her team’s defense in a 72-49 win over Harvard Saturday. (Princeton Athletics broadcast)

Princeton women’s basketball delivered one of its best defensive performances of the season to notch a wire-to-wire win over Harvard, 72-49, Saturday afternoon at Lavietes Pavilion.

Although this contest was billed as a rematch of the 2023 Ivy League Tournament championship game, also won by Princeton, the Tigers might have had revenge on their minds dating back to last season’s road trip to Lavietes.  A year ago, the Tigers lost their Ivy opener at Harvard in shocking fashion, 67-59.  It was the first league loss for Carla Berube in her coaching tenure at Princeton.  

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Princeton women’s basketball survives Seton Hall, 75-71, in double-overtime thriller

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Playing their first game since garnering a top-25 ranking in the Associated Press poll, Princeton women’s basketball gutted its way to a win over Seton Hall, 75-71, in double overtime at Jadwin Gymnasium on Wednesday night.

The Tigers were led by senior co-captain Kaitlyn Chen, who tallied 21 hard-earned points on 4-for-11 shooting.  However, the real hero for the Tigers was freshman sensation Skye Belker who scored 18 points and sank the game-winning jumper with 37 seconds to go in the second overtime.  The native of Los Angeles was named the Player of the Game by the ESPN+ broadcast crew, which included former Tigers star player Julia Cunningham. Making her broadcasting debut, Cunningham did a remarkably good job of not betraying her pro-Princeton sympathies while providing interesting insights into what it’s like to play for Princeton coach Carla Berube.

In a battle for New Jersey supremacy, it was unclear whether this contest was a basketball game or a turnover festival. Perhaps it was the approach of the holiday season that inspired both teams to combine for 52 giveaways.  Seton Hall was the more generous squad, turning the ball over 28 times compared with Princeton’s 24.

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Princeton women’s basketball decimates No. 22 Oklahoma, falls short to No. 19 Indiana at Fort Myers Tip-Off

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Princeton sophomore guard Madison St. Rose is averaging 17.7 points through six games this season. (ESPN)

The Princeton women’s basketball team split a pair of Thanksgiving weekend contests against two nationally ranked opponents from power conferences at the Fort Myers Tip-Off in Florida. 

Playing on Thanksgiving Day for the first time in coach Carla Berube’s career, the Tigers dominated No. 22 Oklahoma, 77-63, at Suncoast Credit Union Arena.  Then, on Saturday morning, the Tigers fell prey to a hot-shooting No. 19 Indiana Hoosiers squad, 72-63.  

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Madison St. Rose blossoming for Princeton women’s basketball

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(Madison St. Rose Instagram page)

Anyone thinking this might be the year to topple the Princeton women’s basketball team from its perch atop the Ivy League standings received a rude but familiar awakening on Monday night when yet another phenom took center stage in the Tigers’ season opener against the Duquesne Dukes.  Princeton won a seesaw affair, 65-57, at Jadwin Gym, powered by sophomore sensation Madison St. Rose’s career-high 26 points on 9-for-18 shooting.  

It was déjà vu all over again for Princeton.  A year ago, the Tigers were coming off another successful campaign having won a second straight Ivy League title and toppled a power-five opponent – Kentucky –  in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  Although the Tigers were considered a favorite to repeat, there were questions about who could fill the very large shoes of graduated senior Abby Meyers, who had led the team in scoring and was voted Ivy League Player of the Year.

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Princeton women ranked No. 24 in AP preseason poll, poised to be class of Ivy League again

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Carla Berube’s Princeton Tigers extended an impressive run of greatness in the 2021-22 season which began over a decade ago under Courtney Banghart.
The Tigers spent most of last season nationally ranked en route to an overall record of 25-5, ending with a near-upset of Indiana in the NCAA Tournament round of 32. The Tigers defeated Kentucky, the SEC Tournament champion, in the first round.
Now the Tigers are ranked again, placing 24th in the Associated Press’ Top 25 released Monday. Princeton was also projected to finish atop the Ivy League in the conference preseason poll released Monday.

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Princeton women rout Brown, 72-39

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Princeton sophomore forward Ellie Mitchell posted her third double-double of the season in the Tigers’ 72-39 rout of Brown on the road Saturday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

The overmatched Brown Bears were spanked by Carla Berube’s Princeton Tigers on Saturday in Providence, 72-39.

The vaunted Tiger defense had single-digit yields in the first (nine) and third (eight) quarters, holding the Bears to under 10 per period for the game.

On offense, Ellie Mitchell was the first of four Tigers to register 12 points for the game. Mitchell went 6- for-6 in the first quarter, an unusual output for the rebounding and defensive specialist. The Tigers led 24-8 after one period and never trailed. Mitchell collected her usual 11 rebounds to record her fifth career double-double.
Abby Meyers, Julia Cunningham and Kaitlyn Chen also contributed 12 points each to fuel the runaway.
Berube used the lopsided contest as an opportunity to give 14 players the chance for some game action. Chet Nweke went 4-for-4 from the field in 13 minutes.
The Tigers could not be accused of looking ahead to Monday’s visit to The Palestra where their bitter rivals, the Penn Quakers, await. Penn-Princeton meetings are always fun and usually offer a surprise or two. Stream the game on ESPN+.

Ivy hoops figures continue to speak out against racial injustice and killings of black people

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The Ivy hoops community has continued to protest against the injustice that black people face in America in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis officer while three other officers stood last Monday.

Harvard men’s hoops 2018 grad Chris Egi was the subject of a SportsNet feature Tuesday highlighting the Markham, Ontario native’s drive to launch the No More Names campaign, a fundraising and awareness building organization aiming for criminal injustice and police brutality.

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