Women's Basketball Falls to Princeton

Nearly three weeks after No. 19/21 Princeton’s last game, an impressive 29-point victory over Penn, the Tigers (18-0, 2-0 Ivy) proved to Harvard (8-9, 1-2) what 17 other teams around the country have already discovered: Princeton is no ordinary Ivy League basketball team. The 96-46 win for the visiting Tigers on Friday at Lavietes Pavilion extends the team’s win streak to 18-straight games to start the season, the longest an Ivy League women’s basketball team has ever gone without a loss.

Coming into the game, Princeton was in the top ten in the nation in three statistical categories: scoring margin, field goal percentage, and three-point percentage. The Tiger’s shooting prowess was on display once again against the Crimson, as the visitors shot 59% from the field overall and an astonishing 60% from behind the arc.

“We had an underdog mentality coming in,” senior forward Erin McDonnell said. “We were relaxed yet focused early on. Having said that, we knew they were a good team and that they were very disciplined. Our game plan was to stop their shooters and not get beat on the drive.”

Harvard was able to hang around in the early minutes of play due to five turnovers in the first five minutes of play from Princeton. However, a 15-5 run midway through the first half gave the Tigers their first double digit lead of the game, 27-13. A three from junior guard Shilpa Tummala and three free throws from senior forward Temi Fagbenle momentarily cut the lead to eight, but the Tigers responded with a 9-0 run that featured Crimson turnovers on four-straight possessions.

“We thought we were ready, but we just didn’t show up,” Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. “They set the tone and went after our guards, and then our guards didn’t get the ball down low to the forwards.”

At halftime, Princeton had 44 points on only 27 shots and held an 18-10 edge over the Crimson on the boards. In fact, 32 of the team’s 44 first-half points were off of either offensive rebounds or steals.

Two quick buckets for McDonnell at the start of the second half cut the Tiger lead to 15, but Princeton’s balanced scoring attack that saw four Tigers end the game in double figures was too much for Harvard to handle.

Princeton senior guard Blake Dietrich hit a layup and two threes as part of a 16-0 response from Tigers that put the game out of reach with nearly 12 minutes to go in the second half, as the Princeton took a 61-30 lead.

“The big focus [coming in] was not letting [Dietrich] drive on us,” Tummala said. “At the same time, we knew it would be important to get a hand up when we switched out on her, cause she is obviously a great outside shooter as well.”

Dietrich finished with 18 points on 7-11 shooting from the field. The senior guard also hit four of her six shots from downtown and added six assists, four rebounds, and three steals.

Playing from behind for the entire evening, the Crimson shot just 24% from the field on the night and only had one player, Fagbenle, reach double figures in points. The senior finished 3-9 from the field, but knocked down seven free throws en route to her 13 points.

“I think [Princeton] is a very disciplined team on offense and on defense,” McDonnell said. “They know the looks they are trying to get on offense, and defensively we kind of fell into their comfort zone. They love to pick passes and get easy steals. It’s contagious, they all start playing well and shots start falling.”

—Staff writer Ty Aderhold can be reached at michael.aderhold@thecrimson.com.