In their final regular game of the season, women’s basketball (24–3 Ivy League, 12–2 overall) took down Yale (7–20, 3–11) to win the outright Ivy League regular season title. Despite a slow start and finding themselves down by double digits early, the Tigers came back to top the Bulldogs 73–55 on Saturday.
And as tradition, in Princeton’s final home game of the season, the Tigers celebrated senior guard Madison St. Rose and senior forward Taylor Charles for senior day in a pre-game ceremony.
“We’re really happy to go out with the win today,” Charles said post-game. “Feeling a lot of emotions, but definitely proud of my team more than anything else.”
“We all work hard every single day, and we all pursue the same goals,” St. Rose said as she reflected on her four years at Princeton. “When we’re on the court having fun, I’m really enjoying myself and happy to enjoy it with my teammates.”
Both have made immense contributions to the program in different ways. St. Rose, an offensive mastermind, leads the team with an average of 16 points per game, while Charles, a defensive force, has recorded 35 blocks this season.
“Maddie’s my offensive bug, and I’m her defensive stopper,” Charles said.
Going into the game, the Ivy League regular season title was still undecided. But after Princeton’s win over Yale and Columbia’s (20–7, 11–3) loss to Harvard (17–10, 10–4) on Saturday, the Tigers took the title outright, and with it earned the No. 1 seed for the upcoming Ivy Madness Tournament.
“We certainly wanted to play well for the [seniors] and to, of course, win the Ivy League regular season title,” Head Coach Carla Berube said to the ‘Prince.’ “The icing on the cake: we win it outright.”
Despite posting a commanding win in the end, Princeton was in trouble early. Yale quickly took a 7–0 lead, causing Berube to call an early timeout to regroup before even two minutes had gone by.
“Yale really came out to play, and played really hard, but we pulled it together,” Berube said after the game.
After Princeton finally found the bottom of the net after a bucket from St. Rose, Yale went on to extend their early lead to 18–4.
Nevertheless, the Tigers stayed composed and began to chip away at the lead.
Junior forward Fadima Tall successfully converted on an and-one to cut the deficit to single digits, making the game 18–9. Tall led the Tigers in scoring with 22 points, shooting on an efficient 80 percent clip, while also going five-for-six from the free throw line.
“Using my speed was a huge factor in the game,” Tall said to the ‘Prince.’ “I wasn’t … able to muscle my way through anyone, so I had to time all of my moves and have positioning already set.”
The Tigers brought themselves within seven to make it a 22–15 game to close out the first quarter.
To open the second quarter, it was Tall again with a controlled and-one finish to bring the Tigers within four at 22–18. Princeton had a much more successful second quarter, as they ended on a 14–4 run to close out the quarter and take a commanding 40–32 lead going into the break.
Princeton only attempted four three-pointers in the first half, not nearly on pace for their average of 19.4 attempts per game. The Tigers dominated the Bulldogs inside the arc and down low, outscoring Yale 42 to 24 in points in the paint on the day.
Princeton’s second half started off offensively no better than the first, as the Tigers shot zero-for-six from the field to open the third quarter. The Orange and Black were scoreless after nearly four and a half minutes of play, until junior guard Skye Belker tacked on two free throws.
At the same time, though, Princeton leaned on its defense, as it held Yale to just four points in that same stretch, still maintaining a two possession lead.
From there, the two teams began to trade baskets as shots started to fall again. To end the quarter, St. Rose jumped the passing lane for the steal and ran the floor for an easy layup to give Princeton a double-digit, 52–42 advantage as time ticked down.
To begin the fourth, Princeton started to pour it on from deep as Belker hit from downtown for Princeton’s second three pointer of the game. Later in the quarter, Tall and first-year guard Grace O’Sullivan hit back-to-back triples to put the Tigers on top 65–49.
From there, the Tigers comfortably closed out the game to take a 78–55 victory, their fifth double-digit victory in a row.
Princeton will next play Brown (16–10, 8–6) in the semi-final matchup of the Ivy Madness Tournament on Friday in Ithaca, N.Y.
Jordan Halagao is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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