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Brown announced Monday that Sarah Behn has stepped down from her role as Brown women’s basketball coach after six seasons at the helm.
Behn went 74-96 (20-64 Ivy) since taking over in 2014 for 26-year coach Jean Marie Burr, leading Brown to an appearance in the inaugural Ivy League Tournament in 2017 and a berth in the 2017 Women’s Basketball Invitational, gaining the program’s first-ever win in a national postseason tournament with a first-round victory over UMBC.
The Brown University Band has refused to play at any more women’s basketball home games for the remainder of the 2019-20 season, according to a statement released by the organization on February 18 on its Facebook page. According to the letter, the decision was made due to “recent allegations regarding the conduct of Head Coach Sarah Behn.”
The story was first reported by the Brown Daily Herald on February 24.
Ivy Hoops Online’s writing staff voted on where all eight Ivy women’s and men’s basketball teams would end up for the 2019-20 season. Our projected order of finish for the women:
The biggest story of the off-season was Miye Oni being selected in June’s NBA Draft. The Yale junior and reigning Ivy Player of the Year decided to leave school early and leave his name in the draft. Despite falling to the late second round, a perilous spot to making an NBA roster, Oni impressed in the Summer League and earned a guaranteed contract with the Utah Jazz. He is playing just as well in the pre-season and looks to be a real steal for the Jazz.
Looking to bounce back after recent disappointments, Brown’s upcoming 2019-20 schedule was announced by sixth-year head coach Sarah Behn on Wednesday. Like Dartmouth, the 13 game nonconference schedule is heavy on nearby opponents and light on teams that made the postseason.
Over the first half of the season, the Bears will take on local rival Bryant to start the season on November 5, and then take part in the fourth Ocean State Tip-Off in December. Bruno will open up against Rhode Island on December 7 and then face Providence or have another matchup against the Bulldogs the next day.
Brown will also take on fellow New Englanders Maine, Central Connecticut State, UMass Amherst, New Hampshire, Merrimack, Holy Cross and Merrimack, and Fairfield. Before league play starts in mid-January, the team will venture down to the Sunshine State to take on Florida International and South Florida before the start of the new year.
Banghart earns win 250, Delaney Smith sticks at 599
In a matchup of two of the Ivy’s premier teams and coaches, the Tigers (18-9, 10-2 Ivy) came out on top of the Crimson (14-11, 7-5), 61-58, on Saturday night. With the win, Princeton coach Courtney Banghart won the 250th game of her 12-year career. Harvard’s Kathy Delaney-Smith, in her 37th year there, will have to wait one more weekend to try and capture the 600th win of her storied tenure.
In a defensive battle where both teams shot under 36 percent from the field, the Tigers were able to use its inside presence (11-for-15 vs 2-for-2 in free throws; 36 to 28 points in the paint) to offset Harvard’s league-leading outside game. The Crimson, which entered the game shooting more than 33 percent from three and averaging over nine treys a game, finished the night making only six baskets at a 23 percent accuracy.
Columbia (7-14, 3-5 Ivy) 83 at Brown (9-15, 1-7) 81
Columbia’s Madison Hardy sank two three-pointers in the last minute to push the Lions over Brown, 83-81, at the Pittzitola Sports Center. The victory was Columbia’s first conference road win and brought the Light Blue into a three-way tie for fifth place. The Bears, which lost their seventh straight contest, ended the night in sole possession of last place.
Cornell (8-10, 2-5 Ivy) 65 at Brown (9-14, 1-6) 53
The Big Red limited the league’s most prolific offense to only 17 second half points, as it came away with a 65-53 victory over Brown in Providence. With the Bears holding a 42-37 lead four minutes into the third quarter, Cornell finished the frame on a 13-2 run to take a six point lead. A Justine Gaziano layup made the score 57-53 in favor of the Big Red with 3:38 to go, but those would be the last points of the night for the Bears. Cornell then went on an 8-0 run, including a 6-6 performance from the free throw line, to close the game.