Courtney Banghart

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

by
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?

Read more

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

by
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.

Read more

Columbia women’s basketball falls to sharpshooting Richmond

by

In a battle between two of the nation’s premier mid-major teams, Richmond women’s basketball used hot three-point shooting to come away from Levien Gymnasium with a 77-67 win Saturday night.

Both teams, which made it to the NCAA Tournament and won a game last year, have aspirations of returning to the Big Dance in 2026. A victory for the Spiders (3-1) helps their overall resume, in case they cannot secure the Atlantic 10’s automatic bid in March. Despite the unfavorable result, the Lions (2-1), as often is the case, will find valuable lessons as they move forward with their difficult nonconference schedule.

Read more

A conversation with former Princeton coach and Dartmouth guard Courtney Banghart

by
Courtney Banghart was named the 2015 Naismith National Coach of the Year and one of Fortune Magazine’s World’s 50 Greatest Leaders during her 12 seasons as Princeton coach from 2007 to 2019, a span during which the Tigers went 254-103 (.711) and won seven Ivy titles after previously never having played in the NCAA Tournament. (University of North Carolina Athletics)

Princeton coaching and Dartmouth playing legend Courtney Banghart spent 45 minutes in conversation with Ivy Hoops Online contributor Steve Silverman.

Read more

Intellectual grit powers former Ivy League stars’ success in professional 3X3 basketball

by

At the Spokane Hoopfest, home to the world’s largest 3X3 basketball tournament, seven former Ivy League women’s basketball stars will lace up their sneakers this weekend alongside 25 other elite hoopsters from across the globe in a center court showcase staged by the 3X3 Basketball Association. 

Blake Dietrick and Carlie Littlefield (Princeton), Harmoni Turner and McKenzie Forbes (Harvard), Camille Zimmerman and Hannah Pratt (Columbia), and Roxy Barahman (Yale) have signed up to play on the 3XBA tour this summer, with the Spokane Hoopfest as the opening stop. 

An eighth Ivy alumnus, Kaitlyn Chen, had signed up to play in Spokane as well, but the former Princeton star and recently crowned national champion at UConn pulled out of the 3XBA tour after she was offered a contract to play for the WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries. 

In April, the Valkyries selected Chen early in the third round of the WNBA Draft, only to waive her a few weeks later during training camp. Ditto for Harvard’s Turner, who was also drafted in the third round by the Las Vegas Aces and later waived.

Other WNBA Draft picks failed to earn roster spots this spring as well, and many of those players have now found an opportunity to continue developing their professional basketball careers by signing on to join the 3XBA tour.

The 3xBA describes itself as “the premier professional women’s FIBA 3X3 tour and youth development pipeline in the United States.” Part of its mission is to provide an outlet for standouts like Chen and Turner, who didn’t quite make the cut in their first attempts, to land a roster spot in the WNBA.

“The idea, is that young players, the bubble players, who maybe are the 13th and 14th kids who would make a WNBA roster if we had that many spots, can come and play 3X3 and potentially end up on a USA national team or make money, have a livelihood during the summer, and then go and play their five-on-five season overseas if they want to, in the fall and spring,” Blake Dietrick told Ivy Hoops Online.

Read more

NCAA Tournament matchups set for Ivy League teams, with record-high three women’s bids

by

The Ivy League’s men’s and women’s NCAA Tournament representatives are set, with a record-high four of them thanks to #3bidivy achieved on the women’s side:

Read more

Reporter’s Notebook: Ivy Madness day two

by
The Cornell jersey arrived special delivery from Ithaca, and all is right in the world of Ivy hoops. (Photo: Rob Browne)

Another great day in the books at Columbia University and Levien Gymnasium.

Four good press conferences, two very good semifinal games and lots of tasty food (including pizza!) in the media room. It’s really hard to beat a day like that.

Some things of note from an Ivy hoops Friday:

Read more

Cornell women’s basketball moving on from Dayna Smith

by

Dayna Smith is pictured during a video interview she gave to Ivy Hoops Online in 2022.

Two days after Cornell women’s basketball ended its season in a blowout loss to Columbia, Cornell athletic director Nicki Moore announced that Dayna Smith would no longer be the program’s head coach.

“Dayna Smith has led the Big Red women’s basketball program for more than two decades with integrity and drive, dedicating herself to developing successful student-athletes on and off the court,” Moore said in a statement released by Cornell Athletics on Monday morning. “She is a well-respected coach, a well-liked colleague and a true ambassador for the game of basketball. I thank her for her service to Cornell athletics, and wish her the very best. Coach Smith will always be an important part of this program’s history.”

Smith, the dean of Ivy women’s basketball coaches following the 2022 retirement of Harvard’s Kathy Delaney-Smith, finishes her 22-year career on East Hill with 32 All-Ivy players, an overall record of 224-345 record and an Ancient Eight championship in 2007-08.

Read more

WATCH: Q&A with Dartmouth women’s basketball coach Linda Cimino

by

Ivy Hoops Online contributor Steve Silverman caught up with first-year Dartmouth women’s basketball coach Linda Cimino Monday to discuss her key influences on the path to taking over in Hanover, plans to strengthen the program,  takeaways from her team’s home loss to Siena Sunday, first-year guard Nina Minicozzi’s strong work ethic, how she’d define a successful first season as coach and much more:

Read more

Megan Griffith inks five-year extension with Columbia women’s basketball

by

Columbia women’s basketball has posted a 99-77 record (41-43 Ivy League) in six seasons under coach Megan Griffith, claiming its first Ivy League championship in program history in 2022-23. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

After a historic season for Columbia women’s basketball in which the Lions earned their first ever Ivy League regular season championship and WNIT Final appearance, coach Megan Griffith has signed a five-year extension that will keep her in Morningside Heights through the 2027-28 season.

Griffith, a King of Prussia, Pa. native, played point guard for Columbia from 2003 to 2007 and captained the team for her last three years.  Over that time, she twice earned All-Ivy and Academic All-Ivy accolades.  Following three years of professional basketball in Europe, she joined Courtney Banghart’s staff at Princeton, where she was director of basketball operations, assistant coach and recruiting coordinator.

When Columbia athletic director Peter Pilling tabbed the then-30-year-old to be the team’s head coach in March 2016, the Lions had just finished a five-year period in which they went 34-107 (.241) overall and 10-60 (.142) in the Ivy League.

“This is my home and I can’t thank Peter Pilling enough for taking a chance on me seven years ago. The buy-in and investment from our administration are unmatched in the history of our program and the Ivy League in general,” the coach told Columbia Athletics. “We’ve created something special for our community, our campus, our alumni and our fans, and I know we will continue to build on that.”

Read more