Princeton still perfect in Ivy League play as showdown with Columbia looms

The landscape for women’s basketball around the league changed considerably last week. Princeton (17-2, 5-0 Ivy) swept its weekend matches against Harvard and Dartmouth to extend its impressive winning streak to 12 games. The Tigers (11-7, 3-2 Ivy) flattened the Crimson by a score of 73-54 and snapped a six-game losing streak to the Crimson in the process.

Harvard had no answer for Princeton freshman forward Niveen Rasheed, who scored 15 points, grabbed 15 rebounds, and even had five assists in an effort which could have cemented her position as the frontrunner for the Ivy League Rookie of the Year. Shooter Addie Micir also made solid contributions, scoring 16 points and scoring six rebounds.

Perhaps even more impressively, the Princeton defense held the second-place Crimson offense to 29 percent shooting in the first half, which helped give Princeton a 34-23 halftime lead. Princeton did not relinquish this advantage and ended up knotting a huge win against one of the main contenders for the Ancient Eight title.

The next day, Princeton played against the reigning champion Dartmouth (8-11, 3-2 Ivy) and found things much tougher. Micir was the only player able to get going in the first half, scoring 12 of Princeton’s 25 points. However, Dartmouth couldn’t achieve much offensively either, resulting in a 25-25 halftime score.

In the second half, Micir scored 13 points, and Princeton finally opened things up en route to 33 second-half points. Dartmouth, despite a late-game rally that saw a climb to within four, was unable to keep up and eventually fell 58-47. For her efforts, Micir won the Ivy League Player of the Week award.

Penn (1-18, 0-5 Ivy), which has struggled mightily this season, served as the other opponent for both Harvard and Dartmouth last weekend. Nothing changed for Penn as Dartmouth and Harvard defeated it 51-37 and 66-40. Penn plays at Cornell and Columbia this weekend.

Cornell (5-14, 0-6 Ivy) has continued to struggle in Ivy play, losing 74-50 to Yale and 61-54 to Brown. At Yale (4-2), the Big Red fell behind 40-29 at the half due to 61 percent shooting by the Bulldogs. Cornell’s defense stepped up in the second half, but by then the game was out of hand. Cornell’s Allie Fedorowicz led all players with 20 points, but Yale’s balanced offense was the difference in the game.

The next day began with a memorable moment when Cornell senior guard Lauren Benson broke the Big Red all-time assists record with her 460th career assist—a drive-and-dish to Taylor Flynn for a trey. The game was close throughout, but eventually ended in another disappointment for Cornell. Fedorowicz again made 20 points for the Big Red, but was outperformed by the Bears’ superb sixth woman Hannah Passafuime, who scored a game-high 22 points.

Columbia (13-7, 4-2 Ivy) split its doubleheader, losing a close game to Brown before falling short on a comeback bid versus Yale the next day.

Against Brown, Columbia struggled early on, falling by nine points early in the first half. In particular, Bears freshman Lindsay Nickel started strong, scoring 10 points in the opening half. However, Columbia eventually got its offense going and ended the half ahead by one.

Coming out of intermission, Nickel hit another three to give Brown a two-point lead but Columbia answered right back with a 7-0 run to take a five-point lead. The Lions never landed the knockout punch, and this came back to haunt them when the Bears went on an 11-0 run to take a 58-57 lead with two minutes remaining. After Brown’s Passafuime missed two critical free throws late in the game, Columbia eventually escaped a loss, 65-60. The Lions got the win, but it came at a very heavy price, as key player Kathleen Barry injured her knee in the second half.

Without Barry, Columbia was unable to fend off a surging Yale squad. Columbia fell by 18 points in the second half, but was able to rally and close the gap. With two minutes remaining, Sara Yee hit a 3-pointer to trim Yale’s lead to one. Unfortunately, the Lions’ run ended there, and the Bulldogs came out on top 81-74.

With the win against Brown, Columbia already has the same number of wins it achieved during the whole of last season. However, with its loss the next day to Yale, Columbia is now tied with Yale for second place. Columbia faces a critical home game this Friday against Princeton and will need a win if it hopes to keep up with Princeton for the Ivy league title.