Alarie Records Double-Double, Blocks Eight In Princeton's 70-55 Victory Over Penn

Saturday, January 6

Philadelphia, Pa.

1:00 PM

Princeton University

11-3, 1-0

Penn

6-5, 0-1

Princeton

Penn

Photo by: Cody Chrusciel

Alarie Records Double-Double, Blocks Eight In Princeton's 70-55 Victory Over Penn

January 06, 2018 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – Bella Alarie recorded her 15th career double-double while Gabrielle Rush poured in 17 points off the bench as the Princeton Tigers (11-3, 1-0 Ivy) defeated the Penn Quakers (6-5, 0-1 Ivy), 70-55, at the Palestra on Saturday afternoon.

1,033 days. That's how long it has been since Princeton last defeated Penn on Mar. 10, 2015. No one on the current roster played in that game.

Alarie went 7-of-11 from the floor, scoring 18 points, while grabbing 12 rebounds and blocking a ridiculous eight shots. Her eight swats broke a career high and are one shy of Ellen DeVoe's nine against Rider (Feb. 25, 1984).

Rush did not miss in the first half, going 5-of-5, making four three-pointers. She finished with 17 on 6-of-9 shooting, adding six rebounds. Leslie Robinson contributed 15 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals in the victory.

Princeton opened up the game, scoring seven of the first nine points, before Penn countered posting nine straight to take a four-point lead (11-7) with 2:40 remaining. Trailing by three, Rush knocked down this trey as the clock expired to tie the score at 15-all after 10 minutes.

This three from Rush ties the game at 15-all after the first frame. #TigerUp #PUWBB pic.twitter.com/gbOThW1zRR
— Princeton WBB (@PrincetonWBB) January 6, 2018

This And-1 layup from Robinson pushed Princeton's lead to seven (28-21) as the clock read 4:27.

Leslie with the AND-1! Princeton leads 27-21 with 4:27 to go in the first half. #TigerUp #PUWBB pic.twitter.com/2Oz8V5K5aH
— Princeton WBB (@PrincetonWBB) January 6, 2018

After the media timeout, Rush made another three-pointer, giving the Tigers a 31-21 advantage with 3:36 to go. Penn dropped in seven straight, setting the score at 31-28 at intermission.

Robinson opened up the second half with an impressive steal and fast-break layup, however, Princeton couldn't pull away in the third frame, never leading by more than seven, as it took a 48-42 advantage into the final quarter.

The Tigers began the fourth stanza with buckets on back-to-back possessions to take its first double-digit lead of the contest, 52-42, just 90 seconds in. A trey from Penn's Princess Aghayere got the home team within eight (61-53) with four minutes to go, but Princeton shut the door defensively. The Tigers did not allow a basket over the final four minutes and made all five free-throws in that stretch to put the game away.

Penn's 32.8 percent shooting was its lowest since a loss to No. 2 Notre Dame on December 9th. Eleah Parker had a team-high 14 points for the Quakers along with seven rebounds in the loss.

Princeton will welcome Columbia (Jan. 12) and Cornell (Jan. 13) to Jadwin Gym next week in the first Ivy League weekend of the season. The Columbia matchup is set for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off while the Cornell contest will tip-off at 4:30 p.m. Each game will be streamed on the Ivy League Network.