Women's Basketball To Take On Utah In NCAA Round of 32

Princeton Women's Basketball celebrates its win over NC State

Princeton Women's Basketball celebrating their win over NC State

Photo by: Sideline Photos, LLC

Women's Basketball To Take On Utah In NCAA Round of 32

March 18, 2023 | Women's Basketball

PRINCETON – The Women's Basketball Team will look to become the first women's Ivy League squad to reach the Sweet 16 as it takes on the No. 2 seed and No. 8 overall Utah Utes on Sunday evening.

Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. MT. The game can be seen on ESPN2.

Watch | Live Stats | Listen | Game Notes | Tickets

How Did We Get Here?
•The Princeton Tigers secured an NCAA Tournament victory with a 64-63 victory over the NC State Wolfpack on Friday evening.

•The Tigers trailed 63-55 with 5:44 to go on a basket by the Wolfpack's Aziaha James.

•From that point forward, NC State did not score again. The Wolfpack were hounded everywhere, and the result was staggering. What happened the rest of the way? NC State went 0 for 5 from the field and turned it over five other times.

•Princeton, meanwhile, found just enough offense to pull this out. A three-pointer by Grace Stone made it 63-58 with 3:09 left, and it stayed that way until Kaitlyn Chen made it 63-61 with a three of her own with 55 seconds left.

•Princeton came up with yet another turnover, and now the Tigers had a chance to tie it. On this night, though, that would have been too easy. Instead, Julia Cunningham — who was brilliant all night — couldn't convert, and now NC State had the ball with 20 seconds to go. Princeton needed to foul three times to get the Wolfpack to the line, and so the Tigers committed two quick ones.

•Ah, but putting NC State on the line would have been too easy, so instead Stone tipped the ball and pulled it in. After a timeout, Stone used a Madison St. Rose screen to free herself up, and she nailed the biggest shot of the night.

•The win by the women followed the win Thursday by the Princeton men over Arizona. It is the first time an Ivy League school has had its men's and women's teams both win in the NCAA in the same year.

2022-23 Stats And Things ...
Stats through March 17.
•Ellie Mitchell is 11th in the country in offensive rebounds per game (4.2), 11th in rebounds per contest (11.0) and 16tn in total rebounds (320). Her 320 rebounds are the most in a single-season in program history. Her 11 rebounds vs. NC State on Friday led to her breaking her own record of 311 set last season.

•She has registered at least nine rebounds in 20 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 third in the country in defensive win shares (2.8) and seventh in in defensive rating (68.6). The Tigers are currently seventh overall in the NCAA in scoring defense (52.8).

•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. She is one shy of Devona Allgood '12 for fifth.

•Mitchell is 40th in the nation in steals-per-game (2.48) and 48th in total steals (72).

•Kaitlyn Chen leads the team in scoring at 16.1 points-per- game and field goal percentage (47.8). She has scored in double figures in every game except for four.

•The junior is 100th in the country in field goal percentage. Only 16.2 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 (186), is fourth 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 16 games, all of which Princeton has won.

•She's averaged 11.7 points during that stretch and has 10 total 10+ point performances. She has raised her average point total from 5.7 to 9.0.

•St. Rose 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 1,067 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 this month.

•Paige Morton has scored 100 points this season, 67 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 3.3 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 39.0 percent from deep to pace the Tigers.

•The senior is averaging a career-high 9.9 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 117 games in her career while Julia Cunningham has seen time in 115 and Maggie Connolly has seen action in 114.

•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 9.0 points and 2.7 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 24 games since.

•The Tigers have at least 10 assists in 25 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 (52.8) - 7th
Turnover Margin (+5.62) - 14th
Scoring Margin (+12.7) - 23rd
Turnovers forced per contest (18.5) - 38th
Net Ranking - 40th
Fewest Turnovers per game (13.1) - 42nd
Assist/Turnover Ratio (1.09) - 50th
Field Goal Percentage Defense (37.5) - 53rd
Three-Point Field Goal Percentage Defense (28.6) - 58th
Steals per game (9.0) - 72nd
Offensive Rebounds per game (12.8) - 75th
Blocks per game (3.6) - 98th

•Princeton's 15-point comeback at Rutgers is the largest of the Carla Berube era, topping the 12-point rally at Yale in February 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 …
•With the women's victory, it is the first time an Ivy League school has had its men's and women's teams both win in the NCAA in the same year.

•The Tigers have won three NCAA games in program history, the most in the conference. They are the first Ivy League team since Harvard's men's squad in 2014 to win NCAA contests in back-to-back years.

•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.

2022-23 Her Hoops Information ...
Stats Through March 17.
•Princeton is ranked No. 9 in the NCAA in Her Hoops Stats Defensive Rating (78.7), 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 78.4 points per 100 possessions, seventh best in the nation.

•The Tigers' opponents are only scoring .69 points per play, 14th best in the country and 38th in points per scoring attempt (.91).

•The 2023 Ivy League Champions are outscoring their opponents by 20.9 points per 100 possessions, 20th highest in the NCAA.

•Princeton has an 11.8 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. 29 in Simple RPI (60.5) 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 42.0 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 - 5.0- 98th percentile
Assist Rate - 27.9 percent - 97th percentile
Offensive Win Shares - 3.2 - 97th percentile
Defensive Win Shares - 1.8 - 97th percentile
PER - 24.1- 92nd percentile
Usage Rate - 26.9 -92nd percentile
Personal Foul Percentage - 2.7% - 89th percentile
Defensive Rating - 84.6 - 88th percentile
Assist/TOV - 1.38 - 87th percentile

Ellie Mitchell
Defensive Win Shares - 2.8 - 3rd overall
Defensive Rating - 68.6- 7th overall
Total Rebounding Percentage - 21.1% - 23rd overall
Defensive Rebound Percentage - 27.5% - 23rd overall
Steal Rate - 4.3 percent - 41st overall
Offensive Rebound Percentage - 15.4% - 43rd overall
Win Shares - 4.1 - 95th percentile

Julia Cunningham
Defensive Win Shares - 2.1 - 45th overall
Defensive Rating - 77.2 - 98th percentile
Steal Percentage - 3.5 percent - 96th percentile
Win Shares - 3.8- 93rd percentile
Block Rate - 3.5 percent - 89th percentile
Assist Rate - 21.8 percent - 89th percentile

Grace Stone
Defensive Win Shares - 1.9 - 97th percentile
Defensive Rating - 81.0 - 94th percentile
Win Shares - 3.4- 90th percentile

Madison St. Rose
Defensive Rating - 82.6 - 92nd percentile
Defensive Win Shares - 1.5 - 91st percentile

Princeton in Ivy Madness ...
•The Tigers have reached the Ivy League Tournament championship game each year it has been played (2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023), winning four times while losing in 2017 to Penn.

•Bella Alarie and Kaitlyn Chen (twice each) have won the last four Tournament Most Outstanding Player awards.

•Princeton has had 13 All-Tournament selections in Alarie (three), Abby Meyers (twice) Leslie Robinson (twice), Chen (twice), Gabrielle Rush, Carlie Littlefield, Julia
Cunningham, and Ellie Mitchell.

3 and 29 …
•Princeton is 0-2 against nationally ranked teams this season and 3-29 overall. 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).

•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.

•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.

•Bella Alarie '20 retired from professional basketball in February.

•As a senior, Alarie earned three All-American titles (Associated Press, WBCA and USBWA). She was the second Ivy League player (Allison Feaster '98 Harvard) to pick up two WBCA Coaches' All-America honors. The three-time Ivy League Player of the Year also became the first Ivy player to be honored with two Associated Press All-American selections.

•Following her time at Princeton, Alarie was selected fifth overall by the Dallas Wings in the 2020 WNBA Draft. She played in 51 games over two seasons, averaging 2.6 points and 3.1 rebounds.

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, Katie Thiers, Lexi Weger and Grace Stone - 2
Ellie Mitchell, Kaitlyn Chen, 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)
Utah - 8.0 (excellent sausage and bacon, MINI WAFFLES)
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).