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Princeton University
Harvard
Players Mentioned
Women's Basketball Wins Ivy League and Punches Ticket to NCAAs
March 06, 2011 | Women's Basketball
PRINCETON, N.J. (3/5/11) - The Princeton women's basketball team is the 2011 Ivy League Champion and is the first team to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament after a 68-59 win over Harvard on Saturday, March 5 at Jadwin Gym in front of a crowd of more than 2,000.
This is the Tigers' ninth Ivy League championship and second straight.
Princeton is 23-4 overall and 12-1 in the league, and has one final conference game to play when it takes on travel partner Penn on Tuesday, March 8 at 4:30 p.m.
The Tigers finished their season with a perfect 13-0 record at home and extend their home court winning steak to 22.
“Winning an Ivy title is a culmination of so much effort,” head coach Courtney Banghart said. “And to get to enjoy it in front of that many people on Senior Night it's a memory we won't quickly forget. We knew the target was on our back this year given our success last year but we really focused on ourselves and it takes a true team effort to win a title and that's what we had all season long. Krystal and Addie came in with the staff, and to be able to grow together, learn together and to earn championships together – it's pretty special.”
Junior Devona Allgood recorded her second double-double of the weekend with 12 points and 10 rebounds and matched her career-high with six blocks. Classmate Lauren Edwards had a game-high 15 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists. Senior Krystal Hill added 13 points, five rebounds and four steals and sophomore Kate Miller chipped in 11 points going 4 for 4 from the floor.
Princeton started the game on a 12-4 run but Harvard would score the next nine straight points to take the lead, 13-12 at 8:56.
A three by Miller gave Princeton back the lead but Christine Clark evened the game at 15-15 with a jumper.
An offensive put back by Allgood and a made free throw by Miller put Princeton back up by three, 18-15, but Christine Matera made it a one-point game with a second-chance basket.
Hill drained a three from the top of the key and Edwards dropped in a layup to give the Tigers a 23-17 lead with 4:42 to play.
Harvard scored the next six points to even the game at 23 all with a three minutes left.
Princeton went back up by three on a free throw by Hill and a layup by senior Addie Micir, but a Matera three-ball washed away the lead with 1:16 left.
With less than a minute to play, Princeton would score five points to take a 32-26 lead at halftime. Junior Laura Johnson delivered a layup and made the first of two free throws. Hill would score her second three-pointer with seven seconds left.
Princeton outworked Harvard in the paint in the first half with 18 points to Harvard's four.
Two minutes into the second session Princeton had a nine-point edge before the Crimson started to chip away at the lead. Harvard would go on a 10-2 run in span of 1:32 to make it a 40-39 game.
A three pointer by Miller gave the Tigers a two-possession lead but Harvard wouldn't go away. The teams traded baskets over the next nine minutes with Princeton going up by as much as eight and as little as two.
With five minutes to play, the Tigers felt the game was in their control when Micir had three-point play that put her team up by nine, 58-49.
Victoria Lippert would score three points for her team before Edwards drained a three from the left wing on the next possession and a steal and fastbreak layup by Hill earned the first double-digit lead of the game, 63-52, with 3:20 on the clock.
Brogan Berry and Clarke gave their team back-to-back baskets but Johnson drained a jumper and free throw to put her team back up by 10 with 55 seconds left. Allgood gave her team its largest lead of the game, 12 points, with a layup after getting the offensive rebound on Johnson's missed free throw.
Berry tried to keep her team in it with a three on the other end of the court but with 47 seconds left the deficit was too much.
Princeton would send the ball out of play to get a standing ovation for seniors Micir and Hill and hang on to the ball for the win.
Matera had a team-high 13 points and four assists, while Lippert and Berry had 12 points apiece. Clark added 11 and led the team on the glass with seven rebounds. Jackie Alemany had six boards. Harvard shot 40.4 percent (23-57) from the field, 38.9 percent (7-18) from behind the arc and 46.2 percent (6-13) from the line.
As a team Princeton shot 43.5 percent (27-62) overall, 43.8 percent (7-16) from long range and 53.8 percent (7-13) from the stripe. The team had 36 points in the paint to Harvard's 14 and had 17 points off of turnovers, while Harvard had just eight.
Princeton will learn its NCAA fate on Monday, March 14 during the live televised selection show.