Ellie Mitchell

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 shuts down Cornell, 79-38, in Ivy League opener

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The Princeton women’s basketball team opened the Ivy League season in impressive fashion on Saturday afternoon with a dominant win over the Cornell Big Red, 79-38, at Newman Arena.  The 41-point margin of victory was Princeton’s largest since the Tigers defeated Brown by 43 points last February. 

With the win, the Tigers moved to 11-3 on the season and 1-0 in the Ivy League.

In an Ivy Hoops Online interview published Thursday, Princeton coach Carla Berube expressed little concern that her players would look past this contest to the Tigers’ marquee matchup against Harvard next weekend.

“I think they understand how important every one of these Ivy League matchups are,” Berube said. “You take nobody lightly, you take nobody for granted.  You respect them and play your very best in each of these contests.”  

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Three thoughts on Princeton basketball heading into 2024

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It’s been an extremely successful year for both the Princeton men’s and women’s basketball teams.  As we turn the calendar from 2023 to 2024, here are three reflections on the state of both programs as we approach the beginning of the 2023-24 Ivy League regular season:

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Princeton women’s basketball ends 2023 with surprisingly tough win at Le Moyne

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It was supposed to be a tune-up game for the beginning of the Ivy League season.

But the Le Moyne Dolphins of the Northeast Conference gave the Princeton women’s basketball team all it could handle Sunday in a 66-55 win for the Tigers at Ted Grant Court in Syracuse, N.Y.

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No. 25 Princeton women’s basketball falls at Rhode Island, 60-58

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Another sluggish start finally got the best of No. 25 Princeton women’s basketball, which dropped a nail-biter to Rhode Island, 60-58, at the Ryan Center in Kingston, R.I. Sunday.

Coming off a thrilling, double-overtime win over Seton Hall on Wednesday night, the Tigers were due for a letdown against a Rhode Island squad that has dueled the Tigers intensely over the past three seasons.  

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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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Princeton women’s basketball shuts down San Diego in 62-51 road win

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Princeton women’s basketball returned to its winning ways by knocking off the University of San Diego Toreros, 62-51, on Sunday afternoon at the Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego.  

The matchup was the second of two weekend games the Tigers played on their Southern California road trip, which served as a homecoming for three Princeton standouts – Kaitlyn Chen and freshman Ashley Chea, both of whom played high school ball at Flintridge Prep, and Skye Belker, a Los Angeles native who played at the Windward School before coming to Princeton.  

Coming off a nail-biting, near-miss against No. 2 UCLA on Friday, the Tigers made quick work of the Toreros.  Madison St. Rose led the way early for the Tigers, notching eight points in each of the first two quarters.  The story of the half, however, was Princeton’s stifling defense, which forced the Toreros into a horrid 5-31 shooting performance.  The Tigers led 31-18 at the break.

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Rookies Belker and Chea pull Princeton women’s basketball past Middle Tennessee State

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In winning its season opener at home against Duquesne, Princeton women’s basketball witnessed the blossoming of Madison St. Rose as a new superstar for the Orange and Black. 

It was time for another coming-out party Sunday, this time by rookies Skye Belker and Ashley Chea, in a 65-60 comeback win to remember at Middle Tennessee State.

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