Coming off of the loss from their season opener against Duquesne, Princeton women’s basketball (1–1 overall, 0–0 Ivy League) needed to make some adjustments. On Saturday, the Tigers traveled to Chicago, taking down DePaul (2–1, 0–0 Big East) by running a tight defense in the first half and going on an offensive rampage in the third quarter, earning their first win of the season in the Windy City.
Junior guard Madison St. Rose led the Tigers with 24 points, six rebounds, and two steals. St. Rose was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2023 and a second-team All-Ivy selection in 2024.
“I think Maddie played really well on both ends of the floor,” head coach Carla Berube told The Daily Princetonian. “When your best player is playing at that level, she makes her teammates around her better.”
After winning the opening tip, St. Rose started the offense for the visitors by getting her jumper to go. However, the first quarter was not easy for the Tigers as they attempted to mitigate the influence of DePaul forward Jorie Allen and break the consistent full-court pressure from the Blue Demons.
It was the scrappy Tiger defense that kept them in the early game, which was steered by sophomore guard Ashley Chea, who had two steals in the first quarter alone.
“All 16 of us were focused on what we’d worked on the past week, and getting stops defensively fueled our offense, which allowed us to play at a speed we are best at,” Chea wrote to the ‘Prince.’
First-year guard Toby Nweke secured her first collegiate bucket assisted by fellow first-year guard Cristina Parrella to finish the quarter. At the end of the first, the Tigers were trailing DePaul 19–14.
the freshmen are growing up so fast 🥹🥹⁰⁰first career bucket for @nweke_toby assisted by fellow freshmen @cristinap_3#GetStops 🐯🏀 pic.twitter.com/XhfJ4WrFmo
— Princeton WBB (@PrincetonWBB) November 12, 2024
“I wanted [Princeton] players to focus on [their] defensive principles … doubling inside on Allen, who’s DePaul’s best player, and taking care of the basketball,” Berube said.
Princeton started to take control of the game during the second quarter. After the Blue Demons took a 26–19 lead, St. Rose led the Tigers on a 7–0 run. While DePaul opened up this quarter with two points from guard Sumer Lee, it was St. Rose who had the answer for Princeton. With five minutes left to go in the half, St. Rose had collected 12 of Princeton’s 24 points.
The next few minutes saw both sides trade baskets. With just over two minutes remaining in the half, both sides were tied at 31. The Tigers slowly started to pull away as a St. Rose shot ignited a 6–0 run. Senior forward Parker Hill closed out the half with a jumper assisted by Chea to give Princeton a 37–31 advantage heading into the locker room.
“I just let the game come to me,” St. Rose told the ‘Prince.’ “Even though I didn’t take a lot of shots in the first quarter, I stayed highly engaged in the game and was ready whenever I got the opportunity to score.”
Heading into the second half, the Tigers held a slim six-point lead. However, the Tigers went on a 21–7 run during the third quarter to put the game out of reach for the hosts, pulling away with a 79–58 win.
Coming out of the locker room, the Tigers held the Blue Demons scoreless for the first four minutes of the second half. The Princeton veterans’ chemistry helped the team succeed as the game progressed.
Early in the third quarter, Chea had another steal, which translated to two points for the Tigers from sophomore forward Fadima Tall. Later on, Chea sank a pair of threes as St. Rose continued to dominate with an and-one play and another jumper. With just under four minutes in the third quarter, Princeton held a 49–35 lead.
“There was just a couple things we needed to clean up defensively,” Berube answered when asked about what she told the team at the half. “They were ready to go coming out of halftime and locked it down defensively. I think we showed a great toughness and grit that maybe we didn’t have against Duquesne that we showed against DePaul.”
The Tigers were getting it done on both ends of the court, forcing turnovers and putting the ball in the hoop on offense. At the end of the third, the Tigers were up 58–38 and had 19 team assists.
“I think we took away [DePaul’s] inside presence,” Berube said. “We did a good job on the boards.”
“DePaul is known as a great offensive rebounding team, and I think we limited their second chance opportunities, and then our defense led to great looks in transition, great looks in the half-court offense,” Berube continued.
There was no coming back for the Blue Devils in the fourth. DePaul seemed frazzled, especially as their leading scorer did not have the anticipated impact. Princeton and DePaul traded baskets in the fourth as Princeton held a 68–48 lead midway through the quarter.
With the large lead, Berube had a chance to give her bench opportunities. Parrella made a triple to get her first points as a Tiger, while first-year forward Emily Eadie found the first two points of her collegiate career in the final minutes of the game.
The Tigers came away with a 79–58 win over the Blue Demons in Chicago. The Orange and Black shot a staggering 62.5 percent from the field in the second half. Alongside a stellar performance from St. Rose, Chea finished the night with 11 points, five assists, and three steals.
The Tigers will play at Jadwin Gymnasium for the first time this season on Wednesday to take on another Big East team — the Villanova Wildcats (1–0, 0–0 Big East). The Wildcats are led by guard Bronagh Power-Cassidy. The transfer from Holy Cross had 17 points in her opening win over Wake Forest.
“[We’re] looking forward to building on that win and having a great showing in our home opener against Villanova,” Berube said.
Emilia Reay is a Sports contributor at the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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