Women's Basketball: Squad clinches 2nd straight tourney trip

“It’s something that’s so special. Not many people get to win the Ivy League championship one time, and we got to do it twice,” senior guard and co-captain Addie Micir said. “Especially after a year like last year, we knew we had a target on our backs, and everybody worked so hard to make this year something special, and that’s what it turned out to be.”

Led by freshman forward Kristen Helmstetter’s 12 points in 14 minutes and junior center Devona Allgood’s double-double, the Tigers (23-4 overall, 12-1 Ivy League) shot 54.5 percent from the field and gave up just 13 field goals to the Big Green (7-20, 3-10). Shortly after the final buzzer, Columbia handed second-place Yale its fourth loss of the season, eliminating the Bulldogs from championship contention. Still, Harvard (9-4, 17-10) persevered in a battle against Penn, forcing the Tigers to wait another day to earn the outright title.

“Last night, my dad told [sophomore point guard Lauren Polansky] that Yale lost and Harvard’s losing, and [Lauren] said, ‘I want Harvard to win,’ ” head coach Courtney Banghart said. “Then he told Addie, and she said, ‘I’m rooting for Harvard.’ That shows that our kids want to take care of their own business, and they did that tonight.”

In addition to the day of the battle for the league championship, Saturday was also Senior Night at Jadwin Gymnasium. A crowd of 2,105 — which Banghart speculated may be the largest crowd for a women’s game in Princeton history — came out to watch co-captains Micir and senior guard Krystal Hill honored in a pregame ceremony. The ceremony emphasized how far Hill, who holds the Princeton record for most games played with 110, and Micir, a member of the 1,000 point club, have come since their 7-23 freshman year.

“Freshman year, there were not too many fans who came out to Jadwin Gymnasium for a women’s basketball game,” Hill said. “It says a lot about where we were and where we are right now.”

Hill, who started the game instead of coming off the bench as she has for most of the season, made the most of Senior Night, scoring 11 first-half points to help Princeton off to a fast start. This opening was an accomplishment for the Tigers, who partly attributed the 73-67 defeat at Harvard’s Lavietes Pavilion in February — their only loss of the Ivy League season — to coming out flat after the tip. Still, the Crimson, propelled by an onslaught of three-pointers from guards Brogan Berry and Christine Matera, kept up and eventually took the lead with nine minutes remaining in the half.

That was the story for much of the game, as Princeton consistently went on strong runs and maintained a steady lead, only to see Harvard quietly put itself back in it with outside shots. While the Tigers pulled off a late run to head into the locker room up by six, the Crimson pulled to within one with 16 minutes remaining in the second half and to within four with six minutes left.

“We were so excited about the environment that we didn’t lock up defensively,” Banghart said.

But with five to go, Micir, who had been quiet offensively, took a pass out on the perimeter, drove into the paint, hit a layup and drew a foul. Junior guard Lauren Edwards followed with a three-pointer, and on the next play Hill stole the ball and brought it down the court by herself to sink the layup. This play gave Princeton an 11-point lead — its largest of the night, and one Harvard would never be able to recover from.

“It was a fun game, we knew we were going to be playing for the Ivy League championship on our home court,” said Edwards, who led all scorers with 15 points and went 3-5 from behind the arc. “Everyone did what they had to do, whether it was draining threes or securing the boards. We did it, we did a good job of it, and that’s why we were successful.”

In a highly anticipated matchup, Allgood shut down 6-foot-3-inch forward Emma Markley, who is second on her team in scoring with 13.8 points per game. Allgood got the better of her on both ends of the court; Markley went 0-7 from the field and lasted just 10 minutes, while Allgood recorded six blocks and achieved another double-double, with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

“Our defensive principles have really come in handy throughout the season,” Allgood said. “We look at the scouts and we know our players’ go-to moves, and we attempt to show that we pay attention to that. Our whole team came out and showed them that we were ready.”

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The Tigers will head to the Palestra to face Penn on Tuesday in their final regular season game. Because Princeton was the first team to be assured a spot in the NCAA tournament, neither its first round opponent nor location has been determined yet; the details will be announced a week from today. The tournament’s first round begins on March 19.