NEW YORK – Going into the kickoff for Ivy Madness, it seemed clear what it would take for the Penn women to upset top-ranked Princeton:
Mike McLaughlin
Ivy League Tournament: Women’s press conference highlights
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)
It’s déjà vu all over again on women’s side as Ivy Madness kicks off in New York City
The Ivy League Tournament kicks off on Friday night at Levien Gym with an exciting slate of semifinal games in the women’s competition.
The bracket this year has a familiar look as the same four teams from last year’s tournament will face off against each other in this year’s edition of Ivy Madness.
The No. 1 Princeton Tigers, co-champions during the regular season, will take on the No. 4 Penn Quakers, while the No. 2 and co-champion Columbia Lions will seek to avenge a disappointing loss in last year’s semifinal against the No. 3 Harvard Crimson.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these semifinal matchups:
Cornell women’s basketball moving on from Dayna Smith
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.
After historic unionization vote, Dartmouth men’s basketball sweeps its final day of the 2023-24 season
The lead-up to the season finale for the Dartmouth men’s basketball team was like no other in program history.
In fact, it was like no other in NCAA history.
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.
Penn women’s basketball demolishes Dartmouth, 79-41
Pity the Dartmouth women’s basketball team. It rolled into the Palestra against a bigger, faster Penn team that needed the win for a chance at the postseason, and it got flattened.
Penn women’s basketball comes back to win at Cornell, 61-54
The Penn women’s basketball team averted disaster Saturday and came from behind to escape from Cornell with a 61-54 win and keep its Ivy Madness hopes alive.
It wasn’t pretty.
Penn women’s basketball tops Yale, 66-52
There was no mystery about the Penn women’s basketball mission this weekend: Travel to New England and beat their two rivals for the last spot in Ivy Madness. And they accomplished half of that mission Friday night in New Haven, never trailing in a convincing victory over Yale, 66-52.
Four Quakeaways from Penn women’s basketball’s loss to No. 25 Princeton
My friends Steve Silverman and George “Toothless Tiger” Clark did a fine job covering No. 25 Princeton women’s basketball’s win at Penn, so (with apologies to Ian Wenik, the Quakeaways man), here are four Quakeaways from Saturday’s game: