In November 2024, as the women’s basketball season began, then-junior guard Madison St. Rose was on an absolute tear. In the Tigers’ very first game that season, she put up 22 points and 12 rebounds. In the next, 24 points. When the Tigers arrived in Hamden, Conn. for a game against Quinnipiac, St. Rose looked poised for a banner year as a bona fide star. Then came disaster.
In the fourth quarter, as the Tigers were attempting to mount a comeback, St. Rose went down with a noncontact injury to her left leg and had to be helped off the court. The Tigers lost the game, but, far worse, St. Rose had torn her ACL. Her season — and with it, a great deal of the Tigers’ hopes — was over in an instant.
“I think the most difficult part was knowing that it was a long process,” St. Rose told The Daily Princetonian. St. Rose was unable to play basketball, the sport that had defined so much of her life, for nine months.
“That took a while to really sit with.”
St. Rose is a central New Jersey native, born in Old Bridge. She played high school basketball at St. John Vianney, where she averaged 22 points her senior season. She was one of the top prospects in her class out of New Jersey and assuredly would have been coveted by many top programs. She eventually chose to travel just 18 miles west of home to Princeton for her college career.
After a strong first-year season that earned her Ivy League Rookie of the Year, St. Rose truly came into her own during her sophomore year, averaging 14.8 points. With the departure of Kaitlyn Chen ’24 and St. Rose’s red-hot start to her junior season, it seemed she would inherit her position on the team as the Tigers’ leader and best player. But that fateful night in Connecticut ended any such hope.
And so, St. Rose was sidelined and could only watch on as the Tigers earned an NCAA tournament bid but lost in the First Four. In that time of immense difficulty, however, St. Rose found a valuable perspective.
“[In] basketball, you have bad games,” St. Rose said. “With those bad games, it’s really important just to learn from them, because it’s a time for me to grow as a player, and I felt like I used to be so hard on myself.”
“But after really learning that basketball could be stripped from you at any given moment, I truly just appreciated my time with the court,” she continued. “I didn’t really let those bad moments affect me as much as I used to.”
St. Rose’s time off the court also allowed her to consider how to improve her own game.
“Sitting out for a whole year, you get to watch a lot of basketball and learn a lot from that … So I did put a lot of work in, but at the same time, I tried to learn from a lot of players on my team [and] players from other teams.”
St. Rose cited former college basketball superstars Caitlin Clark, Hailey Van Lith, and Paige Bueckers as her inspirations.
“Even though I’m not any of those players, I felt like they all starred in a lot of roles, and all within their team,” St. Rose told the ‘Prince.’
“I always wanted to elevate my game and make my game a lot better than it was before. I really focus on rebounding and trying to create for my teammates.”
“I really wanted to come back as the best version of myself,” she added.
And that she did. St. Rose’s extensive work while she was injured has evidently paid off. As a senior and captain of the team, she hit the ground running, averaging over 18 points in her first five games.
Almost every aspect of St. Rose’s game has improved since her comeback. She is statistically having her best full season ever at Princeton, averaging a career-high 15.9 points per game, on a career-high efficiency. She’s grabbing more rebounds and dealing more assists than ever. Just from the eye test, St. Rose has shown greater poise as she excels in the midrange, demonstrating not just greater court awareness, but a greater sense of who she is as a player.
The day after speaking with the ‘Prince,’ she put it all on display against Brown, exploding for a career high 30 points. It was a culmination of all her work from rehabilitating her torn ACL, and she left no doubt on the court that night her presence as a new player and dominant force.
In her starring role, St. Rose has led the Tigers to a stellar 23–3 overall record, their best since the 26–1 2019–20 season, which had no postseason due to COVID-19. St. Rose attributed the team’s success to their experience, with four of five starters from last year returning, but also to more intangible factors.
“We have so much talent and heart and passion,” St. Rose told the ‘Prince.’ “It’s really fun to come back and play with a lot of players that feel confident in their game, because that also brings confidence out of myself.”
St. Rose’s goals for the postseason are concrete: winning the Ivy League Championship. Right now, Princeton and Columbia are tied with 11–2 Ivy records with each team to face one additional game, meaning either could still claim the first seed for Ivy Madness.
The Tigers appear to be peaking at just the right time, blowing out teams with scores that look like typos, including a 50-point annihilation of Dartmouth, 97–47. But no matter what happens in the coming weeks, St. Rose can be sure she has already left an indelible mark on Princeton’s program, just as Princeton has left one on her.
“These four years were life changing,” St. Rose said. “The people that I met — I chose this school because I felt like they created a family outside of my original family.”
Although the Ivy League forbids graduate athletes, St. Rose has one more year of NCAA eligibility. While she told the ‘Prince’ she plans to take it, St. Rose is unsure of where she might end up.
“I genuinely do not know what I’m going to do,” she said with a laugh. Right now, all her attention is devoted to her Tigers.
“Knowing that I have another year of playing college basketball is always so fun, but just knowing that this is my last year here with the Princeton Tigers — I just want to cherish every moment.”
When asked about how she would remember her four years at Princeton as they near their end, St. Rose grew a little sentimental.
“Looking back and reflecting on how fun basketball was at Princeton, and the legacy I left to help the program … that’s all I can really ask for.”
Julian Benkin Danoff is a Sports contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
Read More
Cocoa Crazy: Exploring the best and worst of Princeton’s hot chocolate
Larkin MacoskoContributing writer for The Prospect Larkin Macosko sets out to find the best Princeton hot chocolate.
Contributing writer for The Prospect Larkin Macosko sets out to find the best campus hot chocolate
Roundup: Failure at Princeton, students react to possibility of proctors in exams, and staying stylish and warm
Devon RudolphAssociate News writer Sena Chang talks behind the scenes about her reporting on the perception of failure at Princeton.
Associate News writer Sena Chang talks behind the scenes about her reporting on the perception of failure at Princeton.
Eleven and counting: Princeton’s men’s indoor track and field Heps dynasty continues
Cadigan PerrielloSeveral Princeton athletes are now prepared to compete in the NCAA championships after yet another conference crown.
Several Princeton athletes are now prepared to compete in the NCAA championships after yet another conference crown.