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Princeton University
Harvard
Players Mentioned
Women's Hoops Wins Ivy League, Punches First Ticket to the Big Dance
March 07, 2010 | Women's Basketball
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (3/6/10) - The Princeton women's basketball team is the 2010 Ivy League Champions! The Tigers are going to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history, earning the Ivy League automatic bid with a 25-2 overall record and a 13-0 conference mark.
This is Princeton's eighth Ivy League Championship, winning five in the 1970s and 80s and twice since 1999.
"Winning the Ivy League is a very difficult thing to do," head coach Courtney Banghart said. "To do it by sweeping Dartmouth and Harvard on their courts, is a testament to how far this team has come. I told them to never forget this moment and I sure won't either."
This marks the first time in program history that Princeton has swept Dartmouth and Harvard twice in the same season.
Freshman Niveen Rasheed and sophomore Devona Allgood both had double-doubles in Princeton's 78-66 win over Harvard. Rasheed scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds, while Allgood scored 15 and had a team-high 13 boards and two assists. Sophomore Lauren Edwards was also in double figures with 17 points, four assists and four steals.
Princeton started the game on a 9-2 run but Harvard responded with 12-5 to even the game 14-14 at 11:17. The Crimson would then take its first lead of the game on a Brogan Berry jumped and two minutes later her squad held a 21-16 lead with 9:25 to play.
Princeton got baskets from junior Krystal Hill and senior Cheryl Stevens to make it a one-point game at 7:24.
After Claire Wheeler hit a three pointer and Allgood recorded an old-fashioned three-point play, the Crimson went on a 6-0 run to go up by seven, 30-23 with 3:46 remaining in the half.
A layup by Rasheed sparked the offense and Princeton would close out the half on an 11-3 run. Edwards was crucial to the Tigers' comeback scoring seven of those 11 points to bring Princeton from a five-point deficit to a tie game at 1:49. Allgood and Rasheed each had baskets, sandwiching a Berry free throw to help Princeton to a 36-33 lead at the end of the first half.
Three minutes into the second half the Tigers worked their way to a five-point lead, 45-40. That lead was quickly stripped away by two layups by Emma Markley to make it a one-point game, 45-44 at 15:50.
From this point on the Crimson would score just four times from the field but its hot free throw shooting kept them in the game.
The Crimson would be held scoreless from the field for the next four minutes, but got eight points from the free throw line to once again tie the game at 52-52 with 12:57 remaining. After a pair of free shots from freshman Kate Miller, Victoria Lippert ended Harvard's drought from the field, 54-54.
Princeton would go on an 8-0 run over the next 5:16 with senior Tani Brown scored a three and adding two free throws. Harvard scored the next five unanswered to cut its deficit to four at 5:02 but Rasheed dropped in two layups to give Princeton's its largest lead of the game 58-66 at 3:46. Junior Addie Micir expanded the lead to 13 with a layup and a three pointer with a little more than two minutes to play. The teams would go back and forth through the final two minutes with Brown sealing the win with a pair of free throws with 21 second left.
Princeton shot 45.4 percent from the floor, 65.2 percent from the free throw line and 30 percent from long range.
Markley led the Crimson with 21 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks. Lippert finished with 15 points and Berry had 14 along with seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Jackie Alemany also pulled down seven boards while chipping in six points. Harvard shot 39 percent overall, 83.3 percent from the line and 29.4 percent from behind the arc. The loss was Harvard's first on its home court this season as the Crimson fall to 19-8 overall and 10-3 in the league.
Princeton will play Penn on Tuesday, March 9 in the final game of the regular season at 5 p.m., on Senior Day.