Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Princeton Women's Basketball Opens Season With Pittsburgh, Duquesne
November 13, 2014 | Women's Basketball
| WEEK 1 GAME NOTES |
|
| Gametimes | Princeton vs. Pittsburgh l Friday, Nov. 14 (11 a.m.) l Petersen Events Center |
| Princeton vs. Duquesne l Sunday, Nov. 16 (2 p.m.) l A.J. Palumbo Center | |
| Game Coverage | Pittsburgh: Live Stats/Webstream l Duquesne: Live Stats/Webstream |
| @PUTigers l @PUTigers_live l @PittAthletics l @GoDuquesne | |
| All-Time Series |
Pittsburgh: N/A l Duquesne leads Princeton, 2-1 |
| Last Meeting | Pittsburgh - 1st meeting l Dec. 1, 2007 - Duquesne 71, Princeton 58 (Box/Recap) |
| 2013-14 Records |
Princeton (21-9, 11-3 Ivy) l Pittsburgh (11-20, 3-13 ACC) l Duquesne (20-13, 10-6 A-10) |
| Princeton | Roster l Schedule l Stats l @PrincetonWBB |
| Pittsburgh |
Roster l Schedule l Stats l @PittWomensHoops |
| Duquesne | Roster l Schedule l Stats |
| Related Links | 2014-15 Video Season Preview l 2014-15 Season Trailer l Game Notes (PDF) |
WEEK 1 GAME NOTES (PDF)
Opening Weekend
• Princeton begins its 2014-15 campaign at Pittsburgh on Friday, Nov. 14.
• The scheduled 11 a.m. tip-off makes the contest the first game in the country - men's or women's.
• Under eight-year head coach Courtney Banghart, the Tigers are 5-2 on opening day. Princeton wraps up its first weekend of action against Duquesne on Sunday.
• Friday's showdown will be the Tigers' first ever against the Panthers, while the Orange and Black hold a 1-2 all-time mark against the Dukes, having dropped the last meeting during the 2007-08 season (L, 71-58).
Head of the Class
• Receiving 123 points and nine first-place votes, Princeton finished tied with defending champion Penn atop the Ivy League preseason poll.
• Locked in the first tie in the history of preseason voting since the poll was instituted prior to the 1999-2000 season, the Quakers received seven first-place nods.
• Harvard rounded out the top three with 106 points and the conference's other first-place vote.
Leading the Pack
• Blake Dietrick and Mariah Smith will serve as Princeton's co-captains this season.
• A first-team All-Ivy selection a year ago, Dietrick garnered four conference Player of the Week selections.
• Ranking fifth in the Ivy in points per game (14.3), she was tied for fourth in assists per contest (3.4).
• Suffering a stress fracture in her foot, Smith appeared in just seven games last season. As a sophomore, she saw action in 28 games, averaging 5.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per outing.
When it Rains, It Pours
• The Ivy League's highest-scoring team in 2013-14 (75.7 ppg), Princeton led the conference pack in field goal percentage (0.474) and assists (16.1) while ranking second in three-point shooting percentage (0.366).
• The Tigers' 2,271 points, 836 field goals and 75.7 ppg scoring average all set program records.
• The team's 0.474 shooting percentage also set a new school benchmark, along with Princeton's 405 free throws and 484 assists.
Welcome Back
• The Tigers welcome back four starters and 12 letterwinners from last year's squad.
• Losing just two seniors to graduation, Princeton returns 1,887 of its record 2,271 points, 1,090 of its 1,265 rebounds, and 377 of its 484 assists.
Singled Out
• With a pair of stellar seasons, Blake Dietrick and Alex Wheatley each garnered All-Ivy recognition last season.
• Earning her first all-conference selection, Dietrick was named to the all-league first team, while Wheatley received honorable mention accolades.
Dialed In
• Blake Dietrick currently ranks 10th all-time on Princeton's career charts in three-pointers made (147).
• Dietrick's 76 treys a year ago were the fourth-highest single-season total in school history.
• Knocking down 39.0 percent of her three-point attempts, the sharp shooting guard currently sits fourth on the Tigers' career ledger.
• Not to be outdone, teammate Michelle Miller is currently third all-time in three-point shooting percentage (0.391) after hitting nearly 40 percent of her attempts last season (55-139).
• Pouring in 34 points in against Seton Hall in the WNIT, Miller posted the fourth-highest single-game total in school history. Her eight triples in the contest are tied for the second-most in the Tigers' recordbook.
Model of Efficiency
• Connecting on 131 of her 241 shot attempts last year, Alex Wheatley led the Ivy League in FG percentage (0.544).
• Going 9-for-16 from the field, she netted a career-high 22 points while grabbing 10 rebounds in a WNIT first round victory over VCU.
• Shooting 54.7 percent in 59 appearances, she currently has the second-highest field goal percentage in Princeton history.
Doubling Up
• Princeton's returning players combined to post six double-doubles in 2013-14.
• Alex Wheatley turned in the Tigers' first double-double of the year with a 14-point, 10-rebound effort in the season opener against Rutgers. The junior also had 22 points and 10 rebounds in the first round of the WNIT against VCU.
• Blake Dietrick recorded a double-double at league champion Penn in mid-January, pulling down a career-high 10 rebounds to go with 16 points.
• Michelle Miller had 11 points and 12 rebounds against Cornell on Feb. 8, 2014.
• Annie Tarakchian had a pair of double-doubles on the season. Collecting 18 points and 12 boards against VCU in the first round of the WNIT, she netted 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the Tigers' season finale at Seton Hall.
First Time For Everything
• Last season, Blake Dietrick became the first Tiger to be named the Ann Meyers Drysdale USBWA National Player of the Week.
• Earning a spot on the Cavalier Classic All-Tournament Team, Dietrick averaged 18 points, four rebounds and 1.5 steals in a pair of games against Virginia and Alabama.
• Netting 17 points against the Crimson Tide, she also collected six assists and two steals to lead Princeton to its first-ever win over an SEC opponent.
• Closing out the weekend with a 19-point effort against host Virginia, she was also named the Ivy League Player of the Week.
Fresh Faces
• The Orange and Black will welcome three new faces to the Princeton women's basketball family with the additions of freshmen Kenya Holland, Tia Weledji and Leslie Robinson.
• A McDonald's All-America nominee, Holland was a four-year starter and three-year captain at Colonial Forge, finishing her career with more than 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
• Also a McDonald's All-America nominee, Weledji was a two-time all-conference and three-time all-state selection, averaging 14.3 points per game as a senior.
• Averaging 22.0 points per game and shooting 55 percent from the field, Robinson led Corvallis to a state runner-up finish as a senior. An all-state pick during her final season, she earned three selections to the All-5A division squad.
• Leslie Robinson is the daughter of former Tiger great Craig Robinson, who is one of only two men's players in Princeton history to twice be named the Ivy League Player of the Year.
• Her aunt Michelle Robinson (Michelle Obama) graduated from Princeton in 1995 and is currently the First Lady of the United States and wife of President Barack Obama.
Tiger Trailblazers
• Having captured the Ivy League title in four of the last five years, Princeton is in the midst of one of the most successful runs in program history.
• The Tigers have earned five consecutive postseason berths, becoming the first Ivy squad to reach four-straight NCAA Tournaments.
• The No. 9 seed in 2012 and 2013, Princeton was the No. 11 and No. 12 seed in 2011 and 2010, respectively, representing the highest seeds an Ivy League team has earned.
• In 2012, the Tigers finished No. 24 in the AP Top-25 poll
Road Warriors
• Princeton will open the 2014-15 campaign on the road, with six of its first seven games scheduled away from the friendly confines of Jadwin Gymnasium.
• Last season, Princeton went 11-6 on the road and 1-0 in neutral site games.
• Nearly two-thirds of the Tigers' regular season slate will be played away from Jadwin in 2014-15, with the Orange and Black traveling for 19 of the team's scheduled 30 contests.
South of the Border
• Princeton will travel to Riviera Maya, Mexico during Thanksgiving break to participate in the 2014 Cancun Challenge.
• The Tigers open tournament play against Wake Forest on Nov. 27 before taking on Montana (11/28) and Charlotte (11/29).
No Rest for the Weary
• The Orange and Black face a difficult road ahead thanks to a challenging 2014-15 schedule that features nine games against teams that earned postseason berths a year ago.
• Princeton will open its Ivy League schedule at home on Saturday, Jan. 10 against defending conference champion Penn.
National Scene
• Princeton finished the season ranked 70 in the final NCAA RPI rankings.
• The Tigers closed out the 2013-14 season ranked fifth natioanlly in FG percentage (47.4), 10th in rebounding margin (+9.4) and 19th in three-point field goal percentage (36.6).
• The Orange and Black also finished in the top-50 in scoring margin (26th: +11.6) and scoring offense (37th: 75.7 ppg).
Hitting the Books
• Blake Dietrick and Michelle Miller carried their success on the court into the classroom last season, garnering several academic accolades.
• A pre-med student majoring in chemistry, Miller was recently awarded Princeton's Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence. Awarded annually to students for exceptional achievement during their freshman and sophomore years, the prize was formerly known as the President's Award for Academic Achievement.
• An english major, Dietrick was named to the 2013-14 Winter Academic All-Ivy team. To be nominated, student-athletes must maintain a 3.0 cumulative grade point average and be a starter or key reserve on an officially recognized varsity team.
Scouting Pitt
• Pittsburgh defeated IUP last Saturday in its lone preseason scrimmage, 69-61. Brianna Kiesel scored a game-high 18 points and nabbed five steals, while Monica Wignot had 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks. Cora McManus flirted with a double-double, finishing with nine points and eight rebounds.
• Brianna Kiesel keys the Panther attack as one of the top guards in the ACC. The senior currently ranks 10th on Pitt's all-time scoring list (1,348). Also 13th on the program's career assists chart, she has played in 90-straight games since arriving on campus.
• With 157 made baskets and 111 assists, Kiesel had a hand in 690 of the Panthers' field goals last season accounting for 39.0 percent of the team's scoring.
• Coming up big in the second half last season, Kiesel netted 295 of her 492 points (60.0 percent) after the intermission.
• Pittsburgh will add five new players to its 2014-15 roster in graduate student Monica Wignot, sophomore Jordan Serio and freshmen Aysia Bugg, Stasha Carey and Yacine Diop.
• Outside of Kiesel, the remainder of the Panthers' roster combined to make just 16 starts last year. Wignot joins the squad after spending the last four years on the Pitt volleyball team.
• The Panthers will open the season with just nine healthy players on the roster.
• Last season, Pittsburgh ranked 14th in the ACC in scoring offense (62.7) and 13th in scoring defense (69.4). The Panthers also sat the bottom of the conference in field goal percentage (0.369) and three-point percentage (0.283).
All-Time Series: Duquesne
• Princeton is 1-2 all time against Duquesne. The Dukes won the inaugural meeting during the 1983-84 season, 70-65.
• The Tigers captured the 2006-07 meeting at Duquesne by a score of 62-59 with the Dukes prevailing the following season at Jadwin Gymnasium, 71-58.
Scouting Duquesne
• After posting a 20-13 (10-6 A-10) record last season, Duquesne was picked to finish seventh in the Atlantic 10.
• The Dukes closed out 2013-14 ranked sixth in the A-10 in scoring offense (68.7) and fifth in scoring defense (62.7).
• Second in the conference in three-point percentage defense a year ago (0.276), Duquesne knocked down 33.5 percent of its attempts from beyond the arc.
• As a team, the Dukes finished second in the A-10 in blocks per game (4.0) and third in steals (7.9).
• Duquesne returns just two starters from last year's squad in Olivia Bresnahan and April Robinson.
• Third on the team in scoring (10.8 ppg), Robinson shot 40.0 percent from the floor, 33.8 percent from three and 77.6 percent from the free throw line. Pulling down 3.7 rebounds per game, she led the tem with 3.8 assists per outing.
• Playing nearly 31 minutes per game, Bresnahan averaged 8.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists per outing last year.