Women's Basketball: Ivy champions face tough weekend trip

The Bulldogs (16-10, 8-4) are currently in second place in the Ivy League. Guard Megan Vasquez has led the Bulldogs this season with an average of 15.3 points per game, but the last time Yale played Princeton the Tigers held her to an eight-point game, winning 72-47.

Yale has been known to live up to its mascot’s name — the Bulldogs are a tough team to play, and Princeton knows it. Nevertheless, the Tigers beat Yale both times they met last year, 52-37 and 73-57.

“[Yale] likes to push the tempo and the pressure, so we need to be tough and not let their pressure make us play too fast,” junior forward Niveen Rasheed said.

“At Yale, we will have to match their intensity,” senior guard Lauren Edwards said.

Rasheed and Edwards will be two of the Tigers’ key players in this weekend’s matchups, having led scoring all season with averages of 16.9 and 11.6 points, respectively. Edwards is coming off of what was probably the best week of her four-year career, as she scored 17 points against Harvard and 29 against Dartmouth to help Princeton clinch sole possession of the Ivy League title in front of its home fans at Jadwin Gymnasium.

When the Bears (16-10, 7-5) and Tigers faced off earlier this year, Princeton won 57-45, the closest game between Princeton and either Brown or Yale in the past two years. They will play Penn on Friday before they match up against the Tigers on Saturday night. For the Bears, guards Sheila Dixon, with 13.0 points per game, and Hannah Passafuime, with 12.1 points per game, have been the leading scorers this season.

“[Brown] likes to push the pace, and they are a great three-point shooting team,” junior point guard Lauren Polansky said.

“[They] can hit from outside as well as slash the paint,” senior guard Laura Johnson said. “For us, knowing personnel and being on point defensively will be one of our main objectives.”

Last year, Princeton swept Brown, winning 70-48 and 75-38.

Although neither of these games really matter in terms of the Ivy League, the Tigers will want to put their best foot forward because NCAA seeding will be determined by the team’s entire body of work. Winning the remainder of the regular season, which includes a final home game against Penn next Tuesday, will, according to Polansky, “greatly help our rankings” in the NCAA Tournament.

“Our biggest strength by far is our experience,” Johnson said. “For over half of this team, this is our third Ivy League title and third trip to the NCAA tournament.”

With three seniors and four juniors leading the team, the Tigers are looking to take their experienced lineup and change what has been a tough NCAA Tournament run these past few years.

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“We know what to expect because we’ve been there before,” Johnson said. “And after two disappointing experiences in the tournament, our team is hungry.”