Women's Basketball: Women return 5 starters from 26-3 team

On Saturday, the women’s basketball team will watch a banner fall from the rafters at Jadwin Gymnasium, marking the team’s historic 2009-10 season. The Tigers won 21 consecutive games from December to March, went a perfect 14-0 in the Ivy League and earned the program’s first-ever NCAA tournament berth.

“I hope I keep it together [during the ceremony], but it will be an emotional time,” head coach Courtney Banghart said. “I am so proud of the kids that stuck with it when the team wasn’t having success and the recruits that bought into the program, and we got to a place we’ve never been.”

But just minutes after the ceremony, the Tigers will have to put all that emotion behind them for the next five months. Princeton kicks off its season this weekend against Fairleigh Dickinson, the first of 14 non-conference games over the next two months to prepare the team for another Ivy League gauntlet. Anything short of another league championship banner will be seen as a failure for the Tigers: The team returns all five starters and the players responsible for nearly 95 percent of its points last year.

Last year’s breakout season came as a surprise to many — Princeton was predicted to finish third in the conference, well behind perennial powers Dartmouth and Harvard — but the Tigers will not be sneaking up on anybody this season, as they received a vote in the national USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ preseason poll. Last year’s perfect league record was far from a fluke, as every victory came by a double-digit margin, earning Princeton a     No. 11 seed in the NCAA tournament — the highest-ever seeding for an Ivy League team.

Of course, Princeton’s season did not last long past Selection Monday, as its 21-game win streak was snapped in emphatic fashion by an underseeded St. John’s, 65-47. The Tigers, who faced only two major-conference teams last season, have a more difficult slate of opponents this year. They continue their annual rivalry at Rutgers next week before traveling to defending Patriot League champion Lehigh, two teams that also went to the Big Dance last season. Princeton will travel to Vanderbilt for the school’s Thanksgiving Tournament, where the Tigers are slated to play the University of Southern California in the first round. Princeton also has road dates in December at Delaware — featuring National Player of the Year candidate Elena Delle Donne — and Wake Forest.

“What we try to do in the [nonconference season] is take our hits and figure out what we have to improve on,” Banghart said. “Our schedule is certainly beefed up this year, so we will find out early what we need to improve, and make those adjustments by the time we get to league play.”

The Ivy League season begins Jan. 8 with a home game against Penn, but the biggest dates on the schedule are a trip to Harvard on Feb. 4 and a rematch at Jadwin Gymnasium on March 5. The Crimson had an even less tumultuous offseason than Princeton, losing nobody to graduation from last year’s Ancient Eight runners-up. Featuring forward Emma Markley, one of the preseason favorites to be named conference player of the year, Harvard placed second in the preseason media poll, receiving one first-place vote while the Tigers earned the rest.

Opposing defenses will have their hands full with Princeton this season. Sophomore forward Niveen Rasheed led the Tigers in scoring last season with 15.4 points per game and was unanimously named Ivy League Rookie of the Year. According to her coach, Rasheed could be even more effective on offense this year.

“She’s learned to play better with her teammates and developed her left hand,” Banghart said. “Niveen is one of the more gifted kids that will ever play in this league.”

But the Tigers’ calling card on offense last season was their versatility. Junior center Devona Allgood took a much larger role in the offense and thrived, making 56.4 percent of her shots — best in the conference — and scoring 10.8 points per game. Meanwhile, senior guard Addie Micir and junior forward Lauren Edwards both made more than 40 percent of their three-point attempts and averaged double-digit scoring.

Princeton’s offense figures to look very similar this season. Edwards and Micir can create their own shots from the perimeter late in possessions, and Rasheed has an uncanny knack for beating defenders to the basket, but with so many options, the Tigers will aim to move the ball well and get defenders out of position instead of relying on isolation plays.

Statistically, what set Princeton apart from the other Ivy League offenses last season was not its shooting but the number of shots it took. The Tigers led the conference in offensive-rebound rate, grabbing more than 40 percent of its misses in league play. This figures to be a strong point again this season: Allgood and Rasheed combined for more than six offensive rebounds per game, while Edwards notched a season-high six against a physical St. John’s in the postseason defeat.

More impressive was Princeton’s aversion to turnovers: The Tigers gave away the ball in less than 20 percent of their in-conference possessions last season. The difference between Princeton’s turnover rate and that of the second-best team, Harvard, was more than the gap between Harvard and the league’s worst (Dartmouth). Sophomore point guard Lauren Polansky was an unconventional choice as the team’s starting point guard — not only was she a freshman getting her first reps against college competition, but she also stood at just 5 feet 8 inches and had little shooting touch to speak of. But Polansky proved worthy of the role, committing just 2.6 turnovers per 40 minutes — best in the league among starting point guards — while playing strong defense up and down the court. The point guard, who made just 15 field goals in 27 games last year — most of which came at the rim — has reportedly improved her outside game in the offseason, which would make Princeton’s offense even more deadly.

On days when the shots are not falling, it will be up to the defense to shut down opponents. Fortunately for the Tigers, they should be more than capable of doing so. Princeton held Ivy League opponents to fewer than 50 points per game last year, and with another year of experience playing together in Banghart’s system, might be even better this season.

Though Polansky will shadow the opposing point guard for the length of the court, the pressure is designed to disrupt the opponent’s set, rather than force turnovers — Princeton forced a below-average amount of miscues last year. But the Tigers led the league in nearly every other defensive category, sticking to their responsibilities to deny opponents open looks.

Princeton’s perimeter players, particularly the starters, are athletic and physical enough to defend many different types of opponents, allowing the Tigers to switch screens without creating mismatches. And they have arguably the league’s best defensive frontcourt behind them. In a league loaded with terrific post players, Rasheed and Allgood allowed only one to score 20 points — Markley, who needed 18 attempts from the floor to do so.

Junior guard Laura Johnson, sophomore forward Kate Miller and senior guard Krystal Hill were a regular part of Princeton’s rotation last season and will see regular minutes again this year. Miller has a lethal mid-range jumper from the baseline and rebounds well, while Johnson is another threat from beyond the arc. The graduation of backup center Cheryl Stevens ’10 will likely open up minutes for sophomore Megan Bowen.

Hill has explosive speed, allowing her to create shots off the bench despite being the team’s shortest player at 5 feet 7 inches. She and Micir, the only two seniors, are the team’s co-captains.

“Addie has really taken on leadership role,” Banghart said. “She led us in minutes every year she’s been here, but now she’s really had to use her voice, and I’m proud of how she’s been able to run the offense. Krystal Hill just gets it — she spent a long time learning the system, and you can see now that she’s ready to use her different strengths in our favor.”

Banghart, who has already earned a reputation as a fantastic recruiter, brought in another strong class this offseason, including two players who were nationally ranked recruits. Guard Nicole Hung is a strong penetrator who could make an immediate impact from the wing, while guard Alex Rodgers is a 5-foot-9-inch scoring threat with “endless range,” according to Banghart. Forward Kristen Helmstetter, a post player with good touch, rounds out the class of incoming freshmen.

With so many talented players on the roster, minutes may be difficult to earn. That is a problem that Banghart and the rest of the Tigers are happy to deal with. The banner in Jadwin Gymnasium may commemorate last year’s amazing season, but for the next few months, it will remind the players of something else: the NCAA tournament loss to St. John’s. Another strong season will give the Tigers another chance to play in March — an opportunity they have the talent to make the most of.

“It’s the beginning of a new season, and nothing from last year matters anymore,” Rasheed said. e can do what we did last year, even better.”