Rachel Levy

Ivy League women’s basketball Media Day roundup

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One day after releasing the conference’s preseason poll, the Ivy League moved one step closer to normal by hosting the 2021-22 Media Day for women’s basketball Tuesday.  For the first time, the league used a Zoom format to create a stronger connection between the coaches, players and the media.

In Monday’s poll, three-time defending champion Princeton was again picked as the top team with 122 total points and 12 first-place votes.  Penn, the 2019 co-champion, was selected No. 2 with three first-place votes and 108 points. The next three teams were close, with only six points separating Columbia, Yale and Harvard.

The Lions, which earned their first Ivy League Tournament berth in 2020 before the tourney was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, moved up to third with 87 points. The Bulldogs, a third-place team in 2020, dropped to fourth at 82 points.  The Crimson, which finished fifth in 2020, received one first-place vote but missed the upper division by one point.

Cornell, the 2020 seventh-place squad, moved up to sixth for 2022 with 41 points.  Dartmouth and Brown, two teams with new coaching staffs, ended up with the last two spots, with the Big Green’s 29 points two ahead of the Bears.

Tuesday’s Media Day revealed the four tiers apparent in the preseason poll. But there could be a slight reordering near the top.

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What to expect when Ivy League basketball returns

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As this Ivy non-season progresses, we thought it’d make sense for us to do an Ivy Hoops Online contributors’ roundtable looking ahead to next season, assuming there is one:

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Report: Harvard men’s basketball poised not to play in ’20-’21, at least one other team considering the same

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A quiet Saturday on the college basketball front was upended just after three o’clock with Adam Zagoria’s tweet:

 

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NCAA allows return of basketball in November, Ivy League will wait to decide

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With most regular seasons and championships for fall sports postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, college athletes and fans have been anxiously awaiting word on the winter sports schedule. They received good news on September 16, when the NCAA Division I Council, chaired by Penn athletic director Grace Calhoun, announced that the men’s and women’s basketball seasons could begin on November 25.

“The new season start date near the Thanksgiving holiday provides the optimal opportunity to successfully launch the basketball season,” NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt said to ESPN. “It is a grand compromise of sorts and a unified approach that focuses on the health and safety of student-athletes competing towards the 2021 Division I basketball championships.”

While basketball enthusiasts around the nation rejoiced with the news that meaningful games would soon be returning to the hardwood, fans of the Ancient Eight were left wondering if the league would move from its July 8 decision that teams could not participate in intercollegiate athletics competition prior to the end of the fall semester.

The short answer is no.

“There are no changes at this time,” responded Ivy League associate executive director, strategic communications & external relations Matt Panto to a request from Ivy Hoops Online. “The decision we have made is it (hold on competition) goes through the (end of the) fall term.”

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Columbia women win fifth straight, make big push toward Ivy Madness

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Columbia rode its stingy second half defense, Abbey Hsu’s hot fourth quarter shooting and its deep bench to beat Harvard, 62-57, notching its fifth straight win and moving within a game of its first-ever birth in the Ivy Tournament.

Harvard (14-10, 5-6 Ivy) entered Friday night’s contest on a three-game losing streak, including an 89-64 defeat at Columbia (16-8, 7-4) two weeks ago. The Crimson hoped a return to Lavietes Pavilion, where the team was 8-2 on the season, would help turn the tide and return team back to the league’s upper division.

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Cornell falls at home to hot-shooting Harvard, 73-58

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ITHACA, N.Y . – The Crimson and Red are on divergent paths.

Cornell never led against Harvard Friday at Newman Arena, losing 73-58 after digging a hole too deep in the first half to drop its fourth straight game as Harvard notched a third straight win.

The Crimson (14-6, 5-2 Ivy) started off scorching the nets, leading 23-15 after the first quarter. They hit eight of 10 shots in the first 10 minutes, and first-year guard Lola Mullaney hit three of them, all from downtown.

“They switch a lot, and it created some mismatches,” said Cornell coach Dayna Smith. “We didn’t take care of the basketball on the perimeter against those mismatches … A couple of people early on were too focused on the Harvard players instead of what we needed to be doing.”

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Harvard women give Yale its first conference loss of season

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Harvard handed its archrival its first defeat in Ivy League competition Friday, pulling away in the fourth quarter to notch a 66-57 win over Yale at Lavietes Pavilion.

Yale (14-4, 4-1 Ivy) overcame an 18-8 deficit after one quarter to claim a 31-29 halftime lead, but the Crimson ended the game on a 15-5 run over the final 7:12, attacking the Bulldogs inside down the stretch.

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Princeton women control the inside, defeat Harvard for weekend sweep

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Princeton used its inside strength to outrebound Harvard by 15 and score 18 more points in the paint to cruise past Harvard, 60-46, Saturday night at Lavietes Pavilion.

With the game tied after the first five minutes, the Tigers (15-1, 3-0 Ivy) closed out the frame on an 8-0 run to finish with a 17-9 advantage.  Princeton stretched the lead to 14 at the three-minute mark of the second quarter before Jeannie Boehm, Maggie McCarthy and Maddie Stuhlreyer led the Crimson (11-6, 2-2) on a 7-0 run.  With one possession left in the half, Carlie Littlefield got the ball to an open Bella Alarie, who calmly hit a three from the top of the key to make it 32-22.

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Harvard women rebound against Dartmouth, 64-49, for series split

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The Dartmouth women entered Saturday’s rematch at Harvard looking to for its first series sweep since 2009, but a strong defensive effort and solid late-quarter three point shooting allowed the Crimson to keep its streak intact in front of a boisterous Alumnae Day crowd.

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Dartmouth pilfers Ivy opener, 63-62, from Harvard

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Dartmouth’s Katie Douglas forced Harvard’s Mackenzie Barta into a late turnover and Annie McKenna took the loose ball in for the layup to give the Green a conference-opening 63-62 upset of the Crimson on Saturday afternoon.

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