Women's Basketball: Princeton 2 victories from Ivy League title

For the Tigers (19-4 overall, 9-0 Ivy League) the prospect of taking down another pair of Ivy contenders has almost become automatic.

“Honestly, each week they’ve just been doing business as usual,” head coach Courtney Banghart said. “They ask who we are playing next weekend and then just get it done.”

To that end, Banghart expressed that this year’s Princeton team has been a special squad.

“To really have the opportunity to win this here is a great feeling,” Banghart said. “For all the girls who have their family and friends coming down to watch us, this is really just a great thing to watch.”

Since 2010, the Tigers have won a total of 36 games in the Ivy League, with only one defeat. “The last time we were beaten was by Harvard back two years ago,” Banghart said. “Since then, it’s been a really fortunate squad.”

Banghart explained that the Tigers plan to stick with what has been working for them through the nine Ivy League games so far.

“We are not doing anything to change our preparation. We are not doing anything new to prepare or to change what we have been doing in the past,” she said.

Banghart and the Tigers have good reason to stick with the fast-paced tempo that they have run all year. In league play so far the Tigers have beaten opponents on average by more than 30 points, with the narrowest winning margin a 57-45 victory over Brown in February.

Princeton opens the weekend against third-place Harvard (13-10, 6-3), which will be looking to take revenge on the Tigers from earlier this season. The Tigers faced Harvard on the road two weeks ago and doled out a devastating 84-56 win.

But the Crimson should still be handled carefully, as Harvard is still considered a strong presence in the league. During its last outing, the Crimson knocked Yale down a peg in the League with a decisive 71-51 win on the road.

Furthermore, Harvard still lies a half-game behind Yale, and will be looking to at least climb back into second place in the league after Princeton knocked the Crimson off its feet last time the two teams matched up. Harvard boasts guard Brogan Berry on its roster, who last weekend became the first Ivy League player to surpass the 1,300-point mark.

During the loss to Princeton, Berry carried most of the team’s offensive efforts, netting a total of 21 points for the Crimson.

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On Saturday, the Tigers will host a struggling Dartmouth (4-19, 2-7). History shows Dartmouth with a huge advantage over the Tigers, with the Big Green edging out Princeton 43-24. But recent games tell a very different story, with Princeton winning the last five meetings. In the most recent game, Princeton cleared out the Big Green with a crushing 72-41 victory in Hanover, N.H. During that game, Princeton fans saw major contributions from star junior forward Niveen Rasheed and sophomore guard Nicole Hung, who scored 15 and 11 points, respectively.

Unfortunately for the Big Green, not much of its fortune has changed since last seeing Princeton. Dartmouth comes into the game hoping to get a second back-to-back win of the season, much less any chance of placing the top of the League.

If the Tigers can complete a sweep this weekend, they will need only one more victory to clinch a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.

“Other squads spend every day thinking about how to make a run in the tournament, and at this point we have to be able to compete with those guys,” Banghart said. “But in the tournament, it doesn’t matter who’s the best team on average, it’s who’s the best team that night.”

Princeton looks to close out its last home weekend, hosting Harvard in Jadwin Gymnasium at 7 p.m. on Friday and Dartmouth at 6 p.m. on Saturday.