No. 24 Women's Basketball Ready For Ivy Madness

PRINCETON – The No. 24 Princeton Women's Basketball Team begins its postseason journey with the Ivy League Tournament this weekend.

The Tigers will take on the Penn Quakers in the Ivy Semifinal on Friday at 4:30 p.m. Should they win, the Ivy League Tournament Championship will take place on Saturday with the winner of Harvard and Columbia at 5 p.m.

Game Notes

Editor's Note:
The winner of the Ivy League Tournament receives the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. In honor of those who've paved the way, each bullet point this week is named after a captain of Princeton Women's Basketball who has played in the NCAA Tournament.

KAITLYN CHEN '24
•Kaitlyn Chen was named to the USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Watch List (Feb. 27) and the Intersport Women's College All-Star Game Player Watch List (Feb. 29)

•The senior captain leads the Tigers in scoring at 15.9 points per game. She has 10 double-digit performances in the last 11 games and 23 overall this season. She also has six 20+ point outings.

•She has 1,224 career points and is 14th on the program's all-time list behind Blake Dietrick '15 (1,233).

•Chen recorded her 1,000th career point in the win over Vermont becoming the 28th Tiger to reach that milestone.

•The captain is shooting 48.3 percent from the floor which is a personal best and is 94th in the NCAA. Her 33.3 percent from deep is also a career high.

•Her career mark of 14.1 points per game currently sits ninth all-time.

•She also has a new personal best with 136 assists this season and 348 in her career.

•Her 348 dimes are fourth most in Princeton history, three behind Jessica Berry '09 for third (351). She is 14 shy of Leah Spraragen '92 for second (362). Chen is 39th in the NCAA in assists per game (5.0), 70th in total assists and 77th in assist/turnover ratio (1.92).

CHET NWEKE '24
•Since moving into the starting lineup vs. Columbia on Jan. 20, Chet Nweke has posted 11.3 points while shooting 67.6 percent from the floor along with 6.2 rebounds per game.

ELLIE MITCHELL '24
•Ellie Mitchell continues to be one of the best rebounders in the country as she is 19th in offensive rebounds per contest (4.0), 32nd in rebounds per game (10.0) and 49th in total rebounds (269).

•Mitchell has 51 games with at least 10 rebounds or more. She recorded six as a freshman, 16 as a sophomore, 17 as a junior and 12 this season.

•The senior captain added her 15th career double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds vs. Columbia. It led to her being named Ivy Co-Player of the Week for the first time in her career. It is the second Ivy weekly honor during her time at Princeton.

•Mitchell is the only player in the NCAA to record at least 18 rebounds, five assists and three steals in two games this season (vs. Oklahoma and at Columbia).

•She has the two highest rebounding totals (338 last season and 311 in 2021-22) ever by a Tiger. She is second all-time in rebounds with 1,088, 11 shy of Margaret Meier (1974-78) for first (1,099).

•Meier and Mitchell have the two highest rebounding career totals in Princeton Basketball history, men or women.

MAGGIE CONNOLLY '23 - Stats as of Mar. 10
•The Tigers are back in the WBCA Coaches' Poll at No. 25 after a one-week absence.

•They reached as high as No. 23 in that poll and No. 25 in the Associated Press poll.

•The Tigers are only one of 13 teams to have a perfect home record (11-0).

•Princeton is No. 33 in the NCAA Net Rankings, the third-best mark among non-Power Five and Big East schools. (Gonzaga, UNLV).

•Princeton ranks in the NCAA's Top 100 in ... Turnover margin (+4.81, 23rd), turnovers per game (12.7, 23rd), field goal percentage (45.9, 24th), scoring margin (+14.0, 31st), rebound margin (+6.4, 36th), assist/turnover ratio (1.11, 52nd), offensive rebounds per game (13.3, 58th), three-point field goal percentage (33.4, 78th), turnovers forced per game (17.5, 87th), blocks per game (3.7, 91st) and scoring offense (69.9, 96th).

GRACE STONE '23
•Madison St. Rose is second on the squad in scoring at 14.2 points per game.

•St. Rose has raised her scoring output from 8.8 as a freshman to 14.2 as a sophomore along with her shooting percentage (.361-.428) and three-point percentage (.255-.347).

•The sophomore has scored in double figures 21 times this season.

•She has already surpassed her total field goals (152), three-point total (42-27), assists (37-20) and steals (44-28) than her freshman campaign.

•Skye Belker is third on the unit in scoring at 9.0 points per game. She set a new personal best with 21 points vs. Columbia at home.

•It was the second time she's registered at least 20 points in a game. She also has 10 double-digit performances.

ANNIE TARAKCHIAN '16

•Head coach Carla Berube's unit is No. 22 in Her Hoop Stats' Simple RPI (61.0) 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 sits No. 20 in Her Hoops Stats Defensive Rating (82.1), a statistic that controls for pace and adjusts defensive rating for the strength of the offenses teams have faced.

•Princeton is 12th in the country in offensive rebounding rate (39.1).

•The Tigers are No. 30 in Her Hoops Stats Rating (24.4) a rating of teams that controls for pace, adjusts for opponent quality, and incorporates margin of victory in addition to wins and losses.

Kaitlyn Chen
Offensive Win Shares - 3.1 - 98th percentile
Win Shares - 4.1 - 98th percentile
Assist Percentage - 29.3 percent - 97th percentile
PER - 26.2 - 95th percentile
Assist/Turnover Ratio - 1.92 - 95th percentile
Offensive Rating - 114.4 - 94th percentile
Defensive Win Shares - 1.0 - 90th percentile
Points Per Play - 0.94 - 87th percentile

Ellie Mitchell
Total Rebound % - 20.4 - 29th overall
Defensive Rebounding % - 25.5 - 42nd overall
Offensive Rebounding % - 15.7- 48th overall
Defensive Win Shares - 1.5 - 98th percentile
Defensive Rating - 78.5 - 98th percentile
Offensive Rating - 113.4 - 93rd percentile
Total Win Shares - 2.9 - 93rd percentile
Assist/Turnover Ratio - 1.58 - 92nd percentile
Steal Percentage - 2.7 - 88th percentile

Madison St. Rose
Offensive Win Shares - 1.9 - 92nd percentile
Win Shares - 2.9 - 93rd percentile
Steal Percentage - 2.8 - 89th percentile
Defensive Win Shares - 1.0 - 91st percentile
Usage Rate - 25.8 percent - 89th percentile
PER - 21.3 - 87th percentile

TAYLOR BAUR '20
•Princeton leads the all-time series vs. Penn, 68-30, having won the last 11 meetings vs. the Quakers.

•The Tigers are 53-42 vs. the Harvard Crimson, collecting 11 wins in the last 12 contests.

•The Orange and Black is 61-18 in program history against the Columbia Lions. The two Ivy foes have split the last four matchups.

LESLIE ROBINSON '18
•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.

TIA WELEDJI '18
•2023 was the fourth straight NCAA Tournament that Princeton has reached in seasons it has participated in.

•During the 2021-22 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.

•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.

ABBY MEYERS '22
•Abby Meyers' 22 signed with the London Lions of the Women's British Basketball League in the summer.

•Meyers got some playing time in the WNBA with the Washington Mystics and Dallas Wings. She was drafted in the first round of the 2023 WNBA Draft by the Wings.

•Meyers was the fifth Ivy League player to be selected in the WNBA Draft, the third Princeton Tiger (Bella Alarie, Leslie Robinson) and the third Ivy athlete to be picked in the first round (Alarie and Allison Feaster '98 Harvard).

•Bella Alarie '20, one of the greatest players in program history, is a graduate assistant at Georgetown. The Hoyas have won 19 games and are in the Big East Tournament Final.

•She was selected in the first round of the 2020 WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings. She played in two seasons, totaling 53 games along with 2.6 points and 3.1 rebounds per game before retiring.

•Alarie was first in program history in Ivy Player of the Week awards (20), blocks (249), double-doubles (40) and points (1,703).

•She was also in the top 10 in rebounds, field goal attempts, rebounding average, field goals, scoring average, free throws, free-throw attempts and free throw percentage.

•Grace Stone '23 signed with Anagennisi Germasogeias of Cyprus. With her season just finishing, she will now play in Australia.

•Stone graduated from Princeton third all-time in games played (118) and fifth in free throw percentage (.802). She recorded 807 points, 405 rebounds, 138 steals and 55 blocks during her time with the Tigers.

•Carlie Littlefield '21 is playing for the Young Angels in Slovakia after spending time with the Liege Panthers in Belgium last season.

•Littlefield recorded 1,021 points in 87 games for the Tigers, adding 358 rebounds, 255 assists and 135 steals.

•Littlefield '21 and Blake Dietrick '15 led the U.S. 3x3 team to a series victory in Pristina, Kosovo in July.

•The tournament win is the third-ever in the Women's Series for the United States (2022 - Quebec City, 2021 - Klaipeda).

•Dietrick helped the United States 3x3 women's team earn gold at the 2023 Pan American Games in October.

•The United States dropped Columbia, 21-14, in the gold medal game to secure its second straight gold at the Pan American Games.

•The former Tiger led the U.S. to a 21-6 win over Venezuela in the quarterfinals and a 21-14 victory over Chile in Semifinals.

•During her senior campaign, Dietrick helped the Tigers to one of the greatest seasons in Ivy League history. The Tigers had an unblemished 30-0 regular season, won its fifth Ivy League title in six years, and won the program's first ever NCAA Tournament game in 2015.

ALEX WHEATLEY '16
•Princeton finishes each shootaround on the day of a game with a half-court shot. Margo Mattes leads all Tigers with five, followed by Ellie Mitchell with four.

•Skye Belker and Mari Bickley have three while Taylor Charles, Kaitlyn Chen, Katie Thiers have done it twice. Paige Morton, Parker Hill, Ashley Chea and Chet Nweke have done it once.

TAYLOR WILLIAMS '16
Katie Thiers ranks each road trip's breakfast this year, taking over for Maggie Connolly who did it last season.

Here are her rankings for this season ...
Fort Myers, Harvard - 9.4 - These are the best rankings over the last two seasons.
Yale - 9.0
Vermont - 8.7
San Diego - 8.3
Le Moyne - 8.0
Dartmouth - 8.0
Brown - 7.9
UCLA - 7.0, Rhode Island - 6.6, Middle Tennessee St. - 5.5, Ithaca - 5.4

JULIA CUNNINGHAM '23
•Since OAC contact Warren Croxton had his first child, Teresa, in March of 2022, the Tigers are 48-11 (.813) winning percentage) with two NCAA Tournament victories. The program produced only a .571 winning percentage and only one NCAA victory prior to the birth of Teresa.

•Princeton has a .852 winning percentage since his second child, Michael, was born (Oct. 13, 2023). The program had only a .580 winning percentage in the previous 1,328 games.

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Skye Belker

Mari Bickley

Taylor Charles

Ashley Chea

Kaitlyn Chen

Maggie Connolly

Julia Cunningham

Parker Hill

Margo Mattes

Ellie Mitchell

Paige Morton

Chet Nweke

Madison St. Rose

Grace Stone

Katie Thiers

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