Taking stock of the big three at the midway point of the Ivy League women’s basketball season

With seven conference games in the books for every Ivy League women’s basketball team, the race for the regular season conference title has reached the halfway mark. 

The three teams picked in the preseason to contend for an Ivy League title – Princeton, Columbia and Harvard – have lived up to their billing, racking up big wins in the nonconference season and largely dominating the other five Ivy teams in league play.

Here’s where each of the big three stands as we head into the final five weeks of the Ivy League regular season:

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Ashley Chea’s buzzer-beater lifts Princeton women’s basketball past Harvard, 52-50, in instant classic

Someone had to be a hero.  It turned out to be Ashley Chea.

With Harvard and Princeton knotted at 50 and only 3.7 seconds left on the clock Saturday at Jadwin Gym, Princeton’s sharpshooter guard took an inbounds pass from Skye Belker just beyond the three-point line and was immediately smothered by Harvard’s star guard, Harmoni Turner.

Chea faked a handoff and then spun like a twister to her left to separate from Turner. With one tick remaining, Chea rose up and let loose a long jump shot as the horn sounded. The release was clean as Princeton coach Carla Berube leaned in from the sideline, willing the shot forward.

The ball swished through the net as Chea was mobbed by her jubilant teammates.

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Harvard women’s basketball win streak at seven after defeating Stony Brook and St. John’s

With two back-to-back road games in a six-day span, Harvard women’s basketball’s schedule didn’t do the team any favors.

It turned out not to matter, as the Crimson fought off a tenacious Stony Brook team on Wednesday afternoon and followed it up with a buzzer-beating victory at previously undefeated St. John’s less than 24 hours later.

As they headed back to Massachusetts, Carrie Moore’s squad, which entered the games at No. 11 in CollegeInsider.com’s Mid-Major Top 25, is 9-1 on the season and has a seven-game winning streak.

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Harvard women’s basketball holds on for 72-62 win over Illinois State

At her weekly press conferences, Harvard women’s basketball coach Carrie Moore often discusses her Detroit roots, the grittiness that comes with being a part of the Motor City and her desire for her players to play with that level of toughness.

On Sunday afternoon, her Crimson didn’t always have their best stuff, but they pushed back against a physical Illinois State (2-2) team to come away with a hard-fought 72-62 victory. 

The win gave Harvard (7-1) a sweep of its first of two consecutive back-to-back games and a five-game winning streak.

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Harvard women’s basketball cruises to 75-50 victory over Northwestern

If there’s any more conference realignment on the horizon, the Harvard women may want to consider heading over to the Big Ten. For the second time this year, the Crimson traveled to the Midwest and came away with a victory.

While Harvard (6-1) needed overtime to defeat then-No. 25 Indiana, 72-68, on Nov. 7, it easily handled Northwestern (1-3), 70-65, on Saturday afternoon.

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Ivy women’s basketball Media Day highlights

As the 2024-25 season quickly approaches, the Ivy League hosted its annual women’s basketball Media Day on Thursday. The three-hour event, hosted by Lance Medow, can be viewed on the conference’s YouTube channel.

Prior to the event, the league announced the results of its preseason poll.

Princeton, which has claimed the Ancient Eight title for the last six years, was picked first with 122 out of a possible 128 points and 10 first-place votes.  Columbia, which has tied for the top spot in each of the last two seasons, came in second with 110 points and five first-place votes.

Harvard, which has finished the last two years in third placed, was tabbed for third in 2025, earning 101 points and one first-place spot. 

Penn, the final participant in last year’s Ivy tournament, was picked fourth with 75 votes, while Brown, which finished last year tied with Penn for fourth, was four points back in fifth place.

Sixth place went to Yale, which was as high as third place in 2022, with 48 votes. 

While Cornell and Dartmouth ended last season tied for seventh place, the Big Red got the nod for seventh in this year’s poll with 30 points and the Big Green were eighth with 19 points.  

Below are highlights from this year’s virtual Media Day:

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Ivy League Tournament: Women’s press conference highlights

If it’s not on the MTA map, it should be (Photo: Rob Browne)

NEW YORK – The opening day of the Ivy League Tournament brought the four women’s teams to Levien Gymnasium on the campus of Columbia University.

Below are highlights of the press conferences and links to the videos. (Check out the game previews from Steve Silverman)

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Penn women’s basketball edges Harvard, 69-67, clinches Ivy League Tournament slot

Penn women’s basketball has punched a ticket to Ivy Madness.
The Quakers clinched a slot in the Ivy League Tournament Saturday with a wild and crazy 69-67 win over Harvard at the Palestra. They’ll join the third-place Crimson, Princeton and Columbia in the tourney at Columbia’s Levien Gym March 15-16 to compete for a berth (or maybe two) in the NCAA Tournament.

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Harvard women’s basketball bests Brown, 80-73, to clinch Ivy League Tournament slot

The Harvard women’s basketball team used an efficient fourth quarter to overcome a tough challenge from Brown on Saturday afternoon at Lavietes Pavilion. 

With the 80-73 victory, the Crimson (15-9, 8-3 Ivy) captured the third ticket to next month’s Ivy League Tournament at Levien Gym. It’ll be the third straight conference postseason appearance for Harvard and the sixth overall.

The Bears (14-10, 5-6), looking for their first Ivy Madness berth since the inaugural tournament in 2017, fell back into a tie with Penn. Both teams remain one game ahead of Yale with three games left in the regular season.

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