The Guru D-I Report: Princeton Clinches Ivy But Setback City Elsewhere

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – Princeton earned the right to raise regular season Ivy banners again, this time without a share as opposed to a year ago, but for the rest of the four Guru D-1 teams in action, it was not the greatest of times.

It wasn’t the worst of times, depending how you describe the slaughter Drexel took at James Madison, because there were still some things salvageable despite losses suffered by those Dragons, Penn, Villanova, and in a sense, Delaware.

So, let’s get into it.

Princeton Streak Continues as Tigers Claim Regular Season Crown

After what happened in Central New Jersey Friday night and what happened at the same time a little to the south at Penn’s Palestra, the human condition will be in play for the Quakers, as a result of what happened in Jadwin Gym.

While the Guru was in Philadelphia seeing how Penn might respond after its blowout loss to the Ivy leaders Tuesday night, Princeton was by comparison, making it look like the win over the Quakers was small potatoes compared how Brown was handled.

Late in the game a tweet came in from Jadwin Gym saying the Tigers were on the way to their 19^th straight win on the season.

Truth be told, considering how fast Brown was put away heading to Princeton’s 81-39 victory, the note could have been sent during both teams’ shoot-arounds.

When it was over, Princeton (23-1, 11-0 Ivy) had its victory streak alive – the only loss came last December at Iowa by two points in overtime – and a clinched shared title that became outright within the hour when the Yale 71-54 upset of Penn hit the standings.

The No. 23 Tigers have won eight crowns of regular season variety since 2010 – winning just six titles beforehand – and the last two of three attainable Ivy tournament titles.

Under previous coach Courtney Banghart, who is now at North Carolina after building the operation into a powerhouse, and new coach Carla Berube, Princeton is the only Ivy member to gain the Associated Press women’s poll, having achieved that distinction now in separate seasons.

The other night two-time reigning Ivy player of the year Bella Alarie was asked if the lack of a competitive opponent could be a problem down the road, not at all, came the reply.

“We want to crush everybody and show the Ivies and the NCAA what we’re made of,” she said.

Good luck to the next one in line, Yale heading north for Saturday’s visit after feeling the joy of what went down at Penn.

As for the numbers that came with plenty of rest for all on Princeton to be ready for the Bulldogs and all the celebrations on Saturday with seniors Alarie and Taylor Bauer to be feted, they went like this.

Alarie had 18 points along with four blocks, three assists and two steals. Freshman Ellie Mitchell, who had a bit of a coming out party on Tuesday, had 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Julia Cunningham had 14 points and Carlie Littlefield had 13 against the Bears (8-16, 2-9).

The Tigers forced 28 turnovers and had 16 steals in being the top low defensive scoring yield in the nation.

It’s the 14^th victory by more than 20 points and tenth wire-to-wire and the Guru might add there is an anonymous virtual bookmaker with former Ivy ties, now living in Chapel Hill, who has named nearly every outcome.

The Yale game at Jadwin tips at 5 p.m. Saturday and there will be scoreboard watching, for sure, by two others now involved in a three-way tie for second, though they are four games behind the frontrunner, they are two ahead of Harvard.

Since the Tigers are still trying to make an NCAA safety-valve and at the same time muscle presentation for a high seed, they are not likely to be loading the lineup with freshmen in the remaining pre-Ivy Madness weekend.

By the way, there is an irony that the Crimson may not make it at least on the women’s side to the four-team playoff it is hosting in a few weeks at Lavietes Pavilion, the first of the shoebox-size venues meant for equality as opposed to showcasing the action in The Palestra.

Penn Felled by Yale

For the past decade, the Quakers have stole a few titles from the Princeton monopoly and managed to be the best Ivy team not named Princeton and definitely for a while at this stage of the race, holding the also-ran spot with a solid grip and never losing in The Palestra to Ivy teams not named Princeton.

Yale, worried that Penn might be ready to take out the damage done by the Tigers on the visiting Bulldogs, managed to put those fears aside and take a 71-54 victory to climb into the three way second-place tie with the Quakers and later joined by the new kids on the block – those Columbia Lions, who executed a season-sweep by winning up in Boston.

For the first time this season, no one on Penn (17-7, 7-4 Ivy) scored in double figures. The Quakers had 23 offensive rebounds, of which many went for naught against Yale (17-7, 7-4).

After losing two Ivy games early, though separated by two Philadelphia Big Five losses, Penn has now lost two straight Ivy games back-to-back though each has had Princeton as part of the component.

Compounding all this, Tori Crawford went down with an undetermined knee injury.

It’s the first time since 2017 and only second since 2014 that Penn has lost to Yale and first time since 2015 that the Quakers lost in The Palestra to an Ivy team (Cornell) not named Princeton.

On the Yale side of things, it’s the first Bulldogs win here since March 9, 2013.

“This is a tough place to play because of what (Penn coach) Mike (McLaughlin) has built here, their championship culture,” said Yale coach Allison Guth, a former assistant to Father Judge grad Joe McKeown at Northwestern.

“To get a win like this on the road speaks volumes about or players and their commitment to playing together.”

Roxy Barahman had 29  points for Yale, while Megan Gorman had 13 rebounds, and Camilla Emsbo scored 10.

Yale’s overall and Ivy mark is now identical to Penn at 17-7, and 7-4 in the league, tying the 1979-80 squad for second most wins in program history, which was last achieved in the pre-NCAA era. The 2017-18 squad had an overall win mark of 19.

“It was both ends of the floor,” McLaughlin said, offering the autopsy of his team’s failure to shake off the loss to Princeton. “I don’t think we created anything off our defense. We were stuck in the half court. We weren’t efficient, offensively. We didn’t generate anything.”

Of how the timeline of the game proceeded, he offered, “I thought we were fortunate to get to the halftime down six. At the start of the second half, we had a good look early and missed it and it opened up from there.

“Then we had to change who we are and how we play. It was an uphill struggle. I give them credit. They came on our court and outplayed us.”

So the human condition spoken to way above is, the break for Penn is getting a Brown team coming down here off the pasting from Princeton.

Getting to the tournament is still a strong possibility. And finishing second, considering Yale and Columbia still have a Princeton game ahead, is still do-able. And Penn finishes head-to-head with Columbia next Saturday night.

It’s just not going to be a glide to a two seed as it has been in recent years.

“Don’t give me the math, I don’t understand all that stuff,” he smiled. “I just know one thing – win.

“Our backs are against the wall a little bit. We’re trying to get a bid to the Ivy playoffs. What I was saying in there was let’s respond (Saturday). It’s all about the response tomorrow.”

The game tips at 6 p.m. at The Palestra, not seven, in the final home game. Seniors Emily Anderson, Kendall Grasela, Liz Satter, and Phoebe Sterba will be honored.

Meanwhile, the other component in all this is the rise of longtime doormat Columbia under alumna and former assistant Meghan Griffith out of King of Prussia.

On Friday night, the Lions rallied in Boston to stun Harvard 62-57 at Lavietes Pavilion for a sweep, that’s right, sweep of the Crimson (14-10, 5-6) while Columbia (16-8, 7-4) joined the gridlock.

Technically, they don’t need Penn and Yale to fade, they just don’t need to be bypassed by Harvard. 

But they could get swept next weekend by Penn and Princeton, though if the Crimson gain, they have the tie-break. Columbia is at Dartmouth Saturday night.

Harvard, by the way, has lost four straight Ivy games, at least this was competitive, for he first time since a four-game season-ender in 1993-94.

Hannah Pratt had a career high 17 points as Columbia’s win streak grew to five, the longest in program history involving league games. It’s their first ever season sweep of Harvard (14-10, 5-6), and first win in Boston since 2009.

Drexel Blasted by James Madison

The deepest of Drexel fan, you had to see this coming after the way the Dragons tore the Dukes apart in the Daskalakis Athletic Center last month.

JMU gave the visitors the Princeton treatment Friday night in Harrisonburg, Va., jumping to a 38-12 halftime lead and keeping the pedal down for a 69-39 win in the Colonial Athletic Association that brought the Dragons (20-7, 13-2 CAA), besides ending their 13-game win streak, back to a first-place tie with the Dukes (22-4, 13-2).

Home team coach Sean O’Regan picked up his 100^th win while Philadelphia’s Kamiah Smalls and Kiki Jefferson each scored 15 points, and Jackie Benitez scored 14.

Drexel got hammered on the boards, 52-24.

Keishana Washington had 10 points for the Dragons while Aubree Brown became the first in the program to reach 500 points, 500 rebounds, and 500 assists in a career. She needed to hit the rebound mark, which she did.

So, what happens next?

So, like Rider in its tie with Marist, and Penn in its triple deadlock just spoken to, good things can still happen by winning, like right away, like Sunday at Towson in the game that tips at 2 p.m. in suburban Baltimore.

A win over the Tigers, who rallied to beat Drexel in last season’s CAA title game, becomes a sweep and that is the tie-break for the number one seed because JMU had a split. Of course, business must still be taken care of next week back home against UNCW on Thursday at 7 and Charleston on Saturday at 1 p.m.

The CAA tourney is at Elon in North Carolina beginning March 11.

Meanwhile Delaware, the other Guru team in the CAA, fell at Towson, Friday night, losing 76-66, though some milestones happened.

Nicole Enobasi had her 50^th double double with 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Blue Hens (10-16, 6-9 CAA), who are in seventh but could get to sixth. Enabosi is also the new Delaware career rebounding leader with 1,066, two ahead of Danielle Parker’s previous mark.

Samone DeFrese had 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Jasmine Dickey had 10 rebounds against Towson (14-12, 9-6), which is in fourth behind William & Mary (20-7, 11-5).

Delaware is at James Madison, Sunday

Villanova Downed by Creighton

When the night began on the final Big East regular season road trip, also the final of retiring coach Harry Perretta, the Wildcats off the upsets last weekend of Marquette and DePaul were looking at a range of second to seventh in the final standings before next week’s tournament in Chicago.

Forget the upside following Friday’s 67-47 loss at Creighton in Omaha, Nebraska to give the Bluejays a sweep.

Raven James had 15 point for the Wildcats (16-12, 10-7 Big East), who are tied for fourth with three other teams, while Maddy Siegrist and Mary Gedaka each scored 10 with Siegrist getting nine rebounds. 

Jaylyn Agnew had 20 points to lead Creighton (18-10, 10-7).

Villanova finishes Sunday at 1 p.m. at Providence in Rhode Island.

Nationally Noted: Stanford Jolted at Arizona While Oregon Wraps Up Regular Season Pac-12 Title

In the Friday night wars out West No. 13 Arizona came back from an earlier nine-point deficit to beat No. Stanford 73-72 in overtime at home in Tucson for a first-ever win over a Top  5 squad.

Aari McDonald scored with 8.5 seconds left in the period and finished with 20 points for the Wildcats (23-5, 13-5 PAC-12).

What a great, gutsy win,” said Arizona coach Adia Barnes. “We made a lot of mistakes down the stretch, but we gutted it out. First time upset over a top-five team. 

“We continued to say leave a legacy, and that’s what we do.”

Hall of Fame Stanford coach, after her team (24-5, 13-4) fell into a second-place tie with UCLA, noted, “We made a lot of bonehead plays.”

No. 3 Oregon, meanwhile, clinched the Ducks’ third straight outright PAC-12 but the first time it did so at home.

And that’s the report.