Princeton University Athletics
Friday TigerBlog - Weekend Hoops (Saturday At Noon)
January 23, 2026 | Tiger Blog
So who was the first opponent ever for the Princeton women's basketball team, back in the 1971-72 season?
And what does it have to do with the above photo?
The answer is this: Princeton's first-ever women's basketball game was at Centenary, now a Division III school in Hackettstown, about 45 minutes north of Jadwin Gym. Centenary won that game 42-28, though Princeton did win the other two games in the series, one in each of the next two seasons.
Princeton played seven games that season, only two of which were against current Division I teams: Villanova and Lafayette. The other opponents besides Centenary were Ocean City, Trenton State (now the College of New Jersey), Drew and Georgian Court.
The following generations of Princeton women's basketball owe a great deal to the efforts of the earliest pioneers of the program. If names like "Janet Youngholm" and "Sue Cleveland" aren't familiar ones to the current players, they should be.
Oh, and the photo?
The gentleman on the left is Duncan Yin, Class of 1982 and one of the biggest Tiger sports fans anywhere and an observer of the highest order of all Ivy League athletics. As much as he loves Princeton and its teams, Duncan is not the connection from the photo.
No, that would be the gentleman on the right, Dr. Dale Caldwell, also a member of the Princeton Class of 1982 and a very accomplished master's tennis player. Caldwell and Yin were Princeton roommates.
Caldwell is now on Day 3 of his new job, as lieutenant governor of the state of New Jersey. His previous position? He was the president of Centenary.
TigerBlog and Caldwell both hold degrees from Princeton and Penn, sort of. Caldwell earned a bachelor's degree from Princeton and an MBA from Penn (and a doctorate from Seton Hall); TB has a bachelor's degree from Penn and is an honorary member of the Princeton Class of 1965.
By the way, can anyone tell TigerBlog who the most famous graduate of Centenary is? He'll tell you at the end.
The first opponent for the Princeton women was Centenary. The next is Brown, whom Princeton plays in Providence tomorrow at noon. Remember — that game was originally set for 2 but was changed due to the coming snow.
Brown won its first three Ivy games with wins over Yale, Penn and Cornell before a 68-52 loss at Columbia this past Monday. Princeton is alone in first place in the league at 4-0 after its dramatic win over Harvard at home, also on Monday.
Brown is the No. 1 team in the Ivy League in scoring defense (56.2 per game). Princeton is the No. 1 team in the Ivy League in scoring offense (75.8 per game). Princeton has bettered its opponents' scoring defense average in all four of its Ivy games — by 17, eight, 13 and 22 points.
Brown averages 65 points per game, of which 18.6 come Grace Arnolie, the Ivy League's leading scorer. She's also the daughter of Anthony Arnolie, a former Penn point guard and, additionally, a classmate of TigerBlog's.
The men's game has also been moved to noon from 2, this time in Jadwin Gym.
With four Ivy games in the books, there is no unbeaten or winless men's basketball team anywhere to be found. All eight teams are now either 3-1, 2-2 (including Princeton) or 1-3.
The Ivy League tournament isn't around the corner, but there are only 10 games left to be played. The top four will advance to the Ivy Madness in Ithaca, and clearly the race for those four spots is going to be intense.
Like on the women's side, the Brown men currently lead the league in scoring defense (67.7 per game).
Princeton's Jackson Hicke is one of four players who average at least 20 points per game in league games. Only once in the last five seasons as any player averaged at least 20 for a full season in Ivy games (Jordan Dingle of Penn, 21.2 in 2022).
Meanwhile, do you know who Centenary's most famous grad is? That would be Debbie Harry, Class of '65, who went on to be the lead singer of the group "Blondie."
Be safe if you're in the path of the snow.
