On Saturday, women’s basketball (21–3 overall, 9–2 Ivy League) beat Brown (15–8, 7–4) in a blowout fashion to guarantee their participation in Ivy Madness and the start of their postseason.
The game started off with Brown pressuring the defense and an easy two for the Bears. Based on that, it seemed like the game was going to be a physical one and a hard-fought battle. It was anything but.
Senior guard Madison St. Rose put Princeton’s first two points on the board with a pair of free throws. She went on to score a new career high of 30 points in front of her home crowd on Princeton Alumni Day.
“I honestly don’t know what came out of me in the second half. I couldn’t even tell you,” St. Rose told The Daily Princetonian. “I just stayed confident, my teammates were confident in me, and I just kept playing.”
By the end of the first quarter, both teams were playing fast-paced basketball with Princeton up 16–10. Princeton scored more points in the first quarter against Brown than they did in the entire first half of their previous matchup against Cornell, a great sign of what was to come for the Tigers.
In the second quarter, Princeton held Brown to only eight points. Junior guard Fadima Tall hit a two for the Tigers to get going offensively. Tall tallied a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds, as well as five steals against the Bears.
“She was the best player on the court on my end,” St. Rose said. “She was amazing out there, she was gritty, she led the team and effort plays and we all fed off of her.”
At the end of the half, Princeton commanded the game 31–18. Jadwin Gymnasium was erupting.
“Brown plays very hard, they’re tough defensively, they fill gaps very well. They’re strong,” head coach Carla Berube said about the Bears’ gameplay. While that may be the case, nothing could truly stop the Orange and Black.
Brown showed fight at the beginning of the third quarter, scoring two threes in the first five minutes, but the rest of the game was all Princeton. The Tigers kept their lead going into the last quarter of play.
The rest of the game followed the same Tiger trends, and St. Rose never missed a shot in these final ten minutes. She went a perfect five-for-five from the field and her offense helped the Tigers limit the Bears to scoring just four points the entire quarter. St. Rose nailed a three to break her previous career high with 4:56 left to go.
“Everything was connecting,” St. Rose told the ‘Prince.’ “I’ve been waiting for my peak game, and I feel like this was it.”
Princeton won in convincing fashion, tallying up an impressive 69–37 final score. The Tigers will travel to Hanover to play Dartmouth (10–14, 1–10) away on Friday at 6 p.m. It looks like this Tiger team can taste the postseason already.
Emilia Reay is a senior Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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