Top Cats!!!! Meyers, Chen Power Tigers Past Wildcats For NCAA Win 69-62

Saturday, March 19

Bloomington, Ind.

4:00 PM

Princeton University

25-4,14-0Ivy League

Kentucky

19-12,8-8SEC

Princeton

Kentucky

Photo by: Sideline Photos, LLC

Top Cats!!!! Meyers, Chen Power Tigers Past Wildcats For NCAA Win 69-62

March 19, 2022 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Kaitlyn Chen stood on the foul line. There were 38 seconds to play in Princeton's NCAA tournament opening round game against Kentucky. Chen was smiling, and that gave nothing away about the moment. Chen is always smiling on a basketball court.

When those 38 seconds finally ticked away to reach all zeroes, it was Chen who was holding the ball. Again she was smiling. This time she was mobbed by all of her teammates, and it was nothing but Tiger smiles across the board.

That told the whole story.

Dropped A Blue Blood In Bloomington.@Coach_Berube caught up with Sportscenter after our win. pic.twitter.com/fMpgEYytNa
— Princeton WBB (@PrincetonWBB) March 19, 2022

Princeton had good reason to smile. The 11^th-seeded Tigers had just knocked off sixth-seeded Kentucky 69-62 to advance to Monday's second round, where they will take on third-seeded and host team Indiana. The win was no fluke; Princeton led for more than 37 minutes in the game, including all 20 minutes in the second half.

When asked if the win ranks as the biggest in program history, head coach Carla Berube affirmed the sentiment.

"I think so," she said in the post-game press conference. "I've only been here a couple years, so I don't have a lot of my own history with this group but I think on this stage, with the seed we had, and beating a Kentucky team, the SEC champion, yeah, I think it's definitely up there as one of the best wins."

Chen played 40 minutes and scored 17 points. Abby Meyers was otherworldly in the game, pouring in 29 points and doing so with made three-pointers (two of those), clutch foul shots (9 for 11) and even a marvelous shot off a drive that she spun in off the glass in the fourth quarter.

Pretty sure @Coach_Berube worked up a sweat...

So we were nice enough to cool her off.#GetStops | @MarchMadnessWBB pic.twitter.com/OYjpFRd6qt
— Princeton WBB (@PrincetonWBB) March 19, 2022

The win over Kentucky was Princeton's second in the NCAA tournament, and it stretched the team's winning streak to 18. Kentucky came into the game having won 10 straight of their own, and, oh, by the way, the Wildcats most recent win had come in the Southeast Conference championship game against the No. 1 team in the country, South Carolina.

If Princeton was intimidated, it never showed. The Tigers did what they do, which means they defended, rebounded, played with composure, executed on offense and imposed their will on their opponent.

Anytime it looked like Kentucky was about to take over, Princeton answered. Anytime Princeton needed a stop, it got one. Anytime it needed points, Meyers and Chen took over.

Chen started the scoring, but Kentucky scored the next six to make it a 6-2 game. Did anyone think that would be the Wildcats' largest lead? Did anyone think that when Chen hit a shot to end the first quarter and put the Tigers up 12-11 that Kentucky would never lead again?

Meyers clearly did. There was no part of her game that showed the remotest sense of being intimidated or not ready for the big stage. Instead, she was relentless and dripping with confidence, even on a court that she was sharing with Kentucky's first-team All-American Rhyne Howard, who had 17 points, making her one of three Wildcats in double figures.

No matter how hard they tried, though, the Wildcats never got into a comfort zone. Even with Ellie Mitchell in foul trouble, Princeton still held Kentucky to 36 percent shooting from the field, including 27 percent from three. Princeton on the other hand was at 49 percent for the day.

NOT AN UPSET, JUST THAT GOOD.

No. 25 @PrincetonWBB defeats SEC champion Kentucky 69-62 in the @MarchMadnessWBB first round. Abby Meyers led the Tigers with 29 points. Congratulations, Tigers! ???? pic.twitter.com/zQMK0EVgF8
— The Ivy League (@IvyLeague) March 19, 2022

Despite a big size disadvantage, Mitchell finished with six points and eight rebounds. Grace Stone and Julia Cunningham had seven points each and combined for 10 boards as the Tigers outrebounded Kentucky 37-30.

Princeton's other NCAA win came in 2015, when the Tigers defeated Wisconsin-Green Bay. Now Princeton has a chance to do something no Ivy team has ever done, and that's reach the Sweet 16. It won't be easy, of course. Indiana is 23-8 after its 85-51 opening round win over Charlotte Saturday, and the Hoosiers were a Big Ten tournament finalist, not to mention at home for the game).

Game time for Monday has not yet been announced.