Women's Basketball Prepared For NCAA Tournament

SALT LAKE CITY – It's that time.

March Madness time.

The Women's Basketball Team is in Salt Lake City for its NCAA firs round matchup vs. No. 7 seeded NC State. The game will tip-off at 10 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN2.

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How Did We Get Here?
•Princeton won the Ivy League Tournament title for the third straight playing season after taking down the Harvard Crimson on Mar. 11, 54-48.

•Princeton went into the fourth quarter against Harvard down, 44-37, but opened it with a layup by Ellie Mitchell and a three-pointer by Maggie Connolly which made it a two-point contest, 44-42, with 8:10 left to play. Two more Kaitlyn Chen free throws tied it at 47-47 with 1:46 left to play, then a Mitchell layup put the Tigers ahead, 50-48, with 37 seconds on the clock.

•Mitchell's layup led a 7-0 run which the Tigers would close out the game with. Madison St. Rose drained a pair of free throws with five seconds left, and the Tigers held on for the victory.

•Chen averaged 22.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals in the Tigers' two wins, securing the Ivy League Tournament's Most Outstanding Player for the second consecutive campaign.

•Mitchell corralled consecutive double-doubles and averaged 10.0 points and 13.5 rebounds per contest, picking up All-Tournament accolades.

2022-23 Stats And Things ...
Stats through March 11.
•Ellie Mitchell is 11th in the country in offensive rebounds per game (4.1), 11th in rebounds per contest (11.0) and 21st in total rebounds (309). Her 309 rebounds are the second most in a single-season in program history behind her 311 in 2021-22.

•She has registered at least nine rebounds in 19 games this season and 14+ in 12 contests.

•Her 11.0 rebounds-per-game would be the fifth best in program history and would be the highest mark since 1978.

•Mitchell was named the Ivy League's Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season. She ranks fourth in the country in defensive win shares (2.4) and seventh in in defensive rating (68.4). The Tigers are currently sixth overall in the NCAA in scoring defense (52.5).

•Against Seton Hall, she became only the third person since 2009-10 to have at least 23 rebounds and six steals in a game (Javonna Layfield (Dayton), 12/31/17), Kylie Kuhns (Sacramento St., 12/1/10).

•Mitchell became the first player this season in the NCAA to record at least 12 rebounds and eight steals in a game at Maine.

•She is also only the 10th player since 2009-10 to have at least seven points, 12 rebounds, three assists and eight steals in a contest and the first since February of 2018.

•Her 790 rebounds are sixth-highest in program history.

•The junior is 47th in the nation in steals-per-game (2.39) and 65th in total steals (67).

•Kaitlyn Chen leads the team in scoring at 15.9 points-per- game and field goal percentage (48.9). She has scored in double figures in every game except for four.

•The junior is 81st in the country in field goal percentage. Only 15.9 percent of her shots come from outside the three-point line.

•Chen was named the Ivy League's Player of the Year this season.

•She leads the conference in field goals (178), is third in field goal percentage, assists-per-game (3.9) and assist/turnover ratio (1.38).

•It is the ninth time that a Princeton Tiger has earned Ivy Player of the Year and the fifth straight playing season that Princeton has taken home the top honor.

•Madison St. Rose has scored 71.6 percent of her total points for the season in the last 15 games, all of which Princeton has won.

•She's averaged 12.5 points during that stretch and has 10 total 10+ point performances. She has raised her average point total from 5.7 to 9.3.

•St. Rose has earned three Ivy Rookie of the Week honors and one National Freshman of the Week accolade, leading to her being selected as Ivy Rookie of the Year.

•Julia Cunningham has scored 1,053 points in her career. She scored her 1,000th career point at Columbia becoming the 27th Princeton Tiger to reach that milestone. Carlie Littlefield was the last Tiger prior to Cunningham to score 1,000 points.

•Cunningham earned her third career All-Ivy selection, picking up second-team accolades last week.

•Paige Morton has scored 98 points this season, 65 more than last season. She's averaging 2.4 points more (3.6) than the 2021-22 campaign.

•Parker Hill has more than doubled her point total from last year (56-23).

•Chet Nweke has outscored her total from last season (91-72). She is averaging 3.4 points after registering 2.4 per contest last year.

•Grace Stone has made at least one three in every game except for five and is shooting 38.7 percent from deep to pace the Tigers.

•The senior is averaging a career-high 9.5 points-per-game. She has gone from 4.2 points as a freshman, 5.8 points as a sophomore and 9.3 points as a junior to her current mark. She was named Second-Team All-Ivy for her second all-conference commendation.

•Stone has appeared in 116 games in her career while Julia Cunningham has seen time in 114 and Maggie Connolly has seen action in 113.

•If Princeton plays in the same number of games as last year, barring injury, Stone would finish with 118 games, good for third all-time while Cunningham would finish with 116, fourth most and Connolly would end with 115 games, tied for fifth.

•The Class of 2023 (Julia Cunningham, Maggie Connolly, Lexi Weger, Kira Emsbo, and Stone) earned their fourth Ivy regular season title.

•Only 20 players in Ivy history have won four Ivy crowns. More than half have come from Princeton (Jacqueline Jackson '78, Maggie Meier '78, Meg Bowen '13, Kate Miller '13, Lauren Polansky '13, Niveen Rasheed '13 are the others.)

•Prior to the season, the Tigers' Class of 2026 was considered the No. 19 class among all recruiting classes according to ESPN.com. It's considered the best recruiting class in Ivy League history.

•Tabbie Amanze was ranked at No. 43 in the ESPNW Rankings while Madison St. Rose was right behind her at No. 46.

•St. Rose has played in every game, averaging 9.3 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. Taylor Charles has seen action in eight contests while Tabbie Amanze has not played.

•After shooting 1-of-13 from deep vs. Temple, Princeton has made at least three treys in 23 games since.

•The Tigers have at least 10 assists in 24 contests. Princeton's 28 helpers vs. Hartford were two shy of the program record.

•After having nine steals in the first two games combined, the Tigers have produced 10 steals in 12 games since.

•After winning 20 games just three times prior to the 2009-10 season, the Tigers have won at least 20 games in all but one campaign since.

•The Tigers ranked in the top 100 nationally in the following ...

Scoring Defense (52.5) - 6th
Turnover Margin (+5.43) - 19th
Scoring Margin (+13.1) - 23rd
Fewest Turnovers per game (13.1) - 32nd
Turnovers forced per contest (18.5) - 38th
Net Ranking - 40th
Field Goal Percentage Defense (37.1) - 44th
Three-Point Field Goal Percentage Defense (28.4) - 49th
Assist/Turnover Ratio (1.07) - 52nd
Offensive Rebounds per game (12.7) - 79th
Steals per game (8.9) - 83rd

•Princeton's 15-point comeback at Rutgers is the largest of the Carla Berube era, topping the 12-point rally at Yale inFebruary of 2020.

•The Tigers have had over 1,000 fans at Jadwin for seven straight Ivy League games for the first time since 2014-15 and eight of the last nine contests overall.

•While the Ivy Tournament was considered a neutral site; 2,238 fans were there vs. Penn and 1,922 were in the building vs. Harvard for the championship contest.

•Grace Stone's buzzer beater vs. Rhode Island was the team's first buzzer beater since Eileen Powers' putback with one-second remaining in overtime lifted the Tigers past Southwest Texas State, 82-81, at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas on Nov. 23, 2002.

Princeton NCAA Tournament History
•2023 is the fourth straight NCAA Tournament that Princeton has reached in seasons it has participated in.

•Last season, head coach Carla Berube's unit defeated No. 6 seeded Kentucky, the SEC Champion, in the first round, the program's second ever NCAA victory.

•Princeton would then take No. 3 Indiana to the limit in the Second Round, falling to the hosts at Assembly Hall, 56-55.

•Before the 2021-22 campaign, the Tigers last appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 2019, dropping an 82-77 decision to No. 17 Kentucky. Grace Stone and Julia Cunningham are the only two players from this year's team that played in that game.

•The program has been seeded as low as No. 12 and as high as No. 8. The Tigers' No. 8 seed in 2015 is the highest seed ever by an Ivy school in the NCAAs.

•The Tigers' first NCAA Tournament win was a decision over No. 9 seeded Green Bay, 80-70, in 2015. It was the second Ivy League victory in the NCAA Tournament. Princeton finished that season at 31-1 overall.

•Despite finishing second in the conference, Princeton became the first Ivy school to earn an NCAA at-large bid in 2016. The Tigers dropped a 74-65 contest to No. 6 seed West Virginia.

•Princeton has never faced Utah, NC State or Gardner-Webb. The Tigers have played NCAA Tournament games in Raleigh, N.C., the home of NC State, in 2018 and 2019.

2022-23 Her Hoops Information ...
Stats Through March 11.
•Princeton is ranked No. 9 in the NCAA in Her Hoops Stats Defensive Rating (78.6), a statistic that controls for pace and adjusts defensive rating for the strength of the offenses teams have faced.

•The Tigers' opponents are scoring only 78.0 points per 100 possessions, eighth best in the nation.

•The Tigers' opponents are only scoring .68 points per play, 13th best in the country and 35th in points per scoring
attempt (.91).

•The 2023 Ivy League Champions are outscoring their opponents by 20.9 points per 100 possessions, 19th highest in the NCAA.

•Princeton has an 11.7 percent steal rate, 28th nationally.

•The Tigers are No. 29 in Her Hoops Stats Rating (23.2), a rating of teams that controls for pace, adjusts for opponent quality, and incorporates margin of victory in addition to wins and losses.

•Berube's unit is also No. 33 in Simple RPI (59.8) which treats all games equally (25% Team Win %, 50% Average Opponent Win %, 50% Average Opponent's Average Opponent Win %).

•It is different from the NCAA RPI because the NCAA RPI values home wins as 0.6 wins, home losses as 1.4 losses, away wins as 1.4 wins, and away losses as 0.6 losses.

•Princeton has held opponents to an effective field goal percentage of 41.8 percent, 35th best in the NCAA. This statistic adjusts for the fact that a 3-point field goal is worth one more point than a 2-point field goal.

Kaitlyn Chen
Win Shares - 4.9- 98th percentile
Assist Rate - 27.9 percent - 97th percentile
Offensive Win Shares - 3.1 - 97th percentile
Defensive Win Shares - 1.8 - 97th percentile
PER - 24.4 - 93rd percentile
Usage Rate - 26.4- 91st percentile
Defensive Rating - 84.1 - 88th percentile
Assist/TOV - 1.38 - 87th percentile
Offensive Rating - 107.0 - 86th percentile
Personal Foul Percentage - 2.7% - 86th percentile

Ellie Mitchell
Defensive Win Shares - 2.7 - 4th overall
Defensive Rating - 68.4- 7th overall
Total Rebounding Percentage - 21.3% - 22nd overall
Defensive Rebound Percentage - 27.6% - 23rd overall
Offensive Rebound Percentage - 15.6% - 43rd overall
Steal Rate - 4.2 percent - 55th overall
Win Shares - 4.0 - 94th percentile

Julia Cunningham
Defensive Win Shares - 2.1 - 44th overall
Defensive Rating - 76.4 - 98th percentile
Steal Percentage - 3.6 percent - 97th percentile
Win Shares - 3.7- 92nd percentile
Block Rate - 4.9 percent - 90th percentile
Assist Rate - 20.7 percent - 87th percentile

Grace Stone
Defensive Win Shares - 1.8 - 97th percentile
Defensive Rating - 80.9 - 94th percentile
Win Shares - 3.2- 88th percentile

Madison St. Rose
Defensive Rating - 82.4 - 92nd percentile
Defensive Win Shares - 1.4 - 90th percentile

3 and 29 …
•Princeton is 0-2 against nationally ranked teams this season and 3-29 overall. Should the Tigers defeat NC State, Utah is ranked No. 8 in the AP and USA Today/WBCA polls.

•The Tigers were defeated at No. 16 Texas, 74-50, on Nov. 27 and dropped a 69-64 battle to No. 6 UConn on Dec. 8.

•Before the 2021-22 season, the Tigers had one program victory over a top-25 team.

•The Tigers proceeded to collect two during that campaign.

•Princeton dropped No. 15 Kentucky in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament. In December of 2021, the Tigers defeated No. 22 Florida Gulf Coast, 58-55.

•The Tigers' decision over Florida Gulf Coast was the program's first top-25 victory in 43 years.

•Princeton's previous top-25 win was vs. No. 18 Rutgers on Jan. 5, 1978 (70-57). Princeton head coach Carla Berube was two years old.

•The Tigers did not face another top-25 opponent for 24 years until battling No. 7 Stanford on Nov. 29, 2002. Princeton went on to face 24 more top-25 squads and went 0-25.

•Some top teams that the Tigers have faced are No. 1 Tennessee (Dec. 20, 2005), No. 2 Rutgers (Nov. 18, 2008) and No. 4 Stanford (Dec. 18, 2011).

Princeton Alumnae ...
•Abby Meyers is playing her fifth year at Maryland. The former Tiger was named All-Big Ten Second Team, led the Terrapins to the Big Ten Semifinals and a two seed in the Greenville I region of the NCAA Tournament.

•The Maryland co-captain is averaging 14.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 30 games while shooting 38.4 percent from deep.

•McKenna Haire '21 is currently doing a graduate season at the University of Hawaii. She played in 15 games, making five starts for the Rainbow Warriors last year.

•This season, Haire has seen time in 28 contests and is averaging 3.0 points per contest.

•Hawaii won the 2023 Big West Tournament and is the 14th seed in the Greenville II region.

Shoot Around Fun ...
•Princeton finishes each shootaround on the day of a game with a half-court shot.

Maggie Connolly - 8
Julia Cunningham - 7
Paige Morton, Amelia Osgood, Lexi Weger and Grace Stone - 2
Ellie Mitchell, Kaitlyn Chen, Katie Thiers, and Madison St. Rose - 1.

Breakfast is King ...
The team led by captain Maggie Connolly and Katie Thiers have ranked each road trip's breakfast.

Harvard - 9.0 (omelette bar, lots of variety)
Texas - 8.5 (Great variety, mini waffles a hit)
UConn - 8.5 (less variety by high quality)
Columbia - 7.8 (great bacon and eggs, but the room was freezing)
Dartmouth - 7.5 (good pancakes and sausage, but eggs and bacon were meh)
Brown - 6.2 (fantastic potatoes, good fruit and bacon, french toast was a disaster)
Yale 6.2 - (poor, poor eggs, solid sausage and bacon, good pancakes)
Towson - 6.5 (basic)
Cornell - 5.3 (runny eggs, not many options)
Maine - 3.5 (there was food).

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Taylor Charles

Kaitlyn Chen

Maggie Connolly

Julia Cunningham

Kira Emsbo

Parker Hill

Abby Meyers

Ellie Mitchell

Paige Morton

Chet Nweke

Amelia Osgood

Madison St. Rose

Grace Stone

Katie Thiers

Lexi Weger

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