“We’re just here to fight,” said Princeton women’s basketball head coach Carla Berube prior to her team’s semifinal game of the Ivy League Tournament.
A year ago, Princeton entered the 2025 Ivy League Tournament as the No. 2 tournament seed, facing off against No. 3 Harvard. After leading through three quarters, former Ivy League Player of the Year Harmoni Turner put up a monster 44 points that propelled the Crimson ahead in a close crushing Tiger loss. This year, Princeton was determined to make things right.
“Since we all experienced what it’s like to lose in this championship, we’re just here to now fight and play as hard as we can,” co-captain senior guard Madison St. Rose said to The Daily Princetonian. “We obviously know what we need to improve on; I feel like everyone came back this season with a lot of growth and a lot of heart and a lot of hustle.”
To kick off the 2026 Ivy League Tournament, No. 23 Princeton (24–3 overall, 12–2 Ivy League) avenged last year’s early tournament exit, defeating Brown (16–10, 8–6) by a score of 65–51 in the semifinal game of Ivy Madness.
After establishing a commanding lead in the first quarter, the Tigers at no point trailed the Bears. Although Princeton led by as many as 25 points during the first half, Brown forced a second half comeback that put Princeton ahead by as little as ten. Despite these efforts, a standout 18 point, 67 percent field goal performance by St. Rose sealed the Tiger victory.
“We weathered the storm and made the plays that we needed to down the stretch,” Berube told the ‘Prince’ postgame. “It’s about survive-and-advance at this time of the year. I’m really proud of my group for getting this victory and the chance to play in the championship tomorrow.”
This is the third time that Princeton has toppled Brown this season, defeating them twice in the regular season. In their most recent meeting, the Tigers defeated the Bears by over 30 points.
Correcting a frequent blemish from this season, Princeton did not start the game off slow. It was St. Rose who had the Tigers’ first five points, giving them a quick 5–0 lead.
From there, it was all Princeton for the rest of the quarter. After junior guard Ashley Chea split the defense and took a wide open lane to the basket to take a 12–3 lead, Brown called timeout, just before the first media break.
The timeout did little to stop the bleeding, and Princeton picked up right where they left off. Brown could not get a shot to fall as Princeton’s defensive intensity stayed high. The Tigers forced Brown into tough shot after tough shot, and continually rushed the Bears on offense. Off of each Brown miss, Princeton pushed the ball in transition, finding easy buckets on the other end.
With an intense take to the basket from St. Rose, the lead extended to 21–3, and topped off a 16–0 Princeton scoring run. The teams exchanged baskets to close the quarter, and Princeton led 23–6.
In 11 games this season, the Tigers have trailed at the close of the first quarter. Before the game, Berube emphasized the importance of coming out of the gate strong.
“We’ve talked about how to start better,” Berube told the ‘Prince.’ “Certainly, [11] is too many games to try to keep, you know, clawing from behind, and you can’t do that in March.”
“Looking back at our Yale game, we had a really bad start and we knew coming into this game, if we had that really bad start again and let Brown get a lead, it would be a really tough game because they’re such a good team,” St. Rose added.
To open the second quarter, it looked like Princeton would continue to pour on points, opening with back-to-back threes from junior forward Fadima Tall and junior guard Skye Belker. However, Brown flipped the script on turnovers, forcing Princeton into sloppy mistakes from that point on. By the end of the game, Princeton led in overall turnovers at 20–18.
Yet, despite finally finding a break from Princeton’s offensive onslaught, Brown could not take advantage of the opportunities their defense created. They continued to struggle on offense, unable to find the bottom of the net, scoring just an additional eight points in the second quarter.
From there, Princeton took a confident 36–14 lead into the break.
Coming out of halftime, Brown’s shots finally started to fall, but the Tigers were still matching the Bears’ efforts, extending the lead to a game-high 27, at 44–17.
Threes started to rain for both sides as the two teams traded basket after basket. The Bears could not be stopped from deep, making five three-pointers in a row, which contributed to a strong 14–0 run. Brown’s Grace Arnolie hit a huge bucket to cut the lead down to 15, causing Berube to call timeout to try to slow down Brown’s sudden offensive flurry.
Finally, a crucial floater from St. Rose put an end to Princeton’s sudden scoring drought. Chea later hit a jumper at the buzzer to put the Tigers up 53–36 going into the final period.
Brown entered the fourth quarter just as they ended the third — soaring. The Bears scored five points out of the gate to cut the Princeton lead to 12 at 53–41.
Each team earned defensive stops before Chea and the Tigers were able to break their near-five minute scoring drought with a deep shot from beyond the arc. Brown continued to battle, scoring another five straight points to cut the Princeton lead to ten, the closest the game had been since the first quarter. The Tigers led 58–48 with just over a minute left in the contest.
Despite Brown’s valiant effort, a pair of free throws from St. Rose all but sealed the Tiger’s insurmountable lead. The Bears earned one more free throw before being forced to foul to regain possession. Maintaining their double digit lead and earning a few final stops of defense, Princeton closed the game with Belker and St. Rose at the free throw line to bring the final score to 65–51.
Princeton was led in scoring by St. Rose, and a double-double by Tall contributed to the Tiger’s offensive success. Princeton boasted four double digit scorers and forced six defensive turnovers.
The Tigers will look to secure an automatic bid to March Madness, playing in the Ivy League Tournament Final against Harvard (17–10, 10–4) at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Harvard narrowly defeated Columbia (20–7, 11–3) in the second semifinal Friday.
“Both teams are really aggressive defensively, and we did struggle [today] on offense a little bit, so I think when we go into this next game, it’s having the mindset of limiting our turnovers and really executing our offense to the best of our abilities,” St. Rose said postgame.
Even if the Tigers sustain a loss Saturday, after remaining in the Associated Press News top 25 rankings for nearly half of the regular season, the Tigers have a strong chance of receiving an at-large bid to the tournament. However, Princeton remains hungry to win their league tournament.
“Most of [the team] was a part of last season, so I think they all understand how special this is and how it’s not easy to get through this first game,” Berube concluded. “We’ll be ready, but we’re enjoying the ride as well.”
Jordan Halagao is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Lily Pampolina is a head Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
A correction was made March 13, 2026: A previous version of this article stated that St. Rose scored 18 points in field goals. In fact, she scored 18 points in total, including free throws. The ‘Prince’ regrets this error.
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