Last season, Princeton women’s basketball did not emerge victorious in the Ivy League, falling to Harvard in the conference tournament. They didn’t make it deep into the post-season either, losing to Iowa State in the first round of the NCAA tournament. But with most of its key starters returning and senior guard Madison St. Rose back from last year’s injury, the team is looking to resume its Ivy League dominance in the 2025–26 season.
This season, the motto is “putting the team before ourselves,” junior point guard Ashley Chea, a 2025 First-Team All-Ivy player, told The Daily Princetonian. “And it’s already feeling that way.”
The team’s first test of the season is at Georgia Tech this Sunday.
Perhaps the biggest story of the Princeton pre-season is a newly recovered St. Rose, who might be the Ivy League’s best player, as ESPN proclaimed preseason. The Tigers’ sharp shooter had her season cut short last year after she tore her ACL against Quinnipiac, but now she is back and ready to go.
The senior captain will likely be a starter this season, and has already gained some outside recognition. Last month, St. Rose was named to the 2026 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award Watchlist presented by the Her Hoops Stats, and most recently, she was named to the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award’s preseason watch list.
“I dedicated so much time into my rehab and basketball workouts so that I felt prepared once the season started,” St. Rose told the ‘Prince.’ “When the days got hard, I would watch films of myself playing in previous games as a reminder that I would be back on the court. The journey hasn’t been easy, but I feel so prepared heading into the first game of the season against Georgia Tech.”
While St. Rose was out, now-junior guard Skye Belker picked up most of the scoring slack for Princeton. In the 2024–2025 season, she produced 20 double-digit showings. Belker kept busy this offseason by playing for the German National U25 team.
With Belker and St. Rose locked in, three other starting positions are open this season. Luckily for the Tigers, four of the five starters from last season’s group are returning to the court: Chea, Belker, junior guard Fadima Tall, and junior guard Olivia Hutcherson.
“I believe that having that experience back this season will definitely help. I think they know the standards of Princeton Women’s Basketball, they’ve played a lot together, and that experience of playing in really big games on the national stage will bode well for the start of our season,” head coach Carla Berube told the ‘Prince.’
That chemistry will definitely come into play as the Tigers start the season with a tough three-game away stretch. After going to Hutcherson’s hometown to contest Georgia Tech, they will travel to play Villanova and then Maryland.
“Our energy during scrimmages and practices has been through the roof. We are so grateful for the opportunity to be on the court and are super excited to have a challenging non-conference schedule. We are ready to give all that we got for this upcoming season,” St. Rose said.
Belker echoed her teammate’s sentiment. “Our non-conference schedule is tough, which motivates us and shows us that our coaches believe in this team. We’re going into this season with the mindset that we represent the winning principles of Princeton Women’s Basketball and we have something to prove. We are hyped to step up to this challenge together,” she said.
While these upperclass students will anchor the Princeton team, Berube noted one other player everyone should watch out for: sophomore forward Emily Eadie.
“The work ethic that she brings to the floor — she’s just a rebound machine. She brings some great toughness,” Berube said.
On paper, this Princeton women’s basketball team seems to be a strong group. They were voted No. 1 in the Ivy League Pre-Season Poll. They have their senior star shooter in St. Rose, and they maintain their four-eyed monster in the returning junior starters. All that’s left to do is win on Sunday. The Tigers tip off at 2 p.m.
Emilia Reay is a staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince’ and the Spanish Language Pilot Program Director.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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