Women's basketball team punches ticket to March Madness
The women's team earned an automatic bid to the annual NCAA postseason tournament after defeating Columbia in the Ivy Madness championship game in New York.
For the fifth season in a row, the Princeton women’s basketball team will compete in March Madness.
The No. 9 seeded Tigers will travel to Iowa City to play the No. 8 seeded West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday, March 23, at 5:30 p.m. ET as part of the opening round of the Albany Two region. On campus, a student watch party tips off at 5 p.m. Saturday at McCosh 10.
(Because Carver-Hawkeye Arena was sold out with season tickets during the regular season, Iowa does not anticipate having additional tickets available for sale for NCAA first and second rounds. Fans may visit https://hawkeyesports.com/postseason/ for updated information.)
The Tigers earned an automatic bid to the annual NCAA postseason tournament on Saturday, March 16, after defeating Columbia in the Ivy Madness championship game at the Lions' Levien Gymnasium, 75-58. The championship game was also Carla Berube’s 100th win as head coach at Princeton.
After finishing the regular season 13-1, they had earned the No. 1 seed in the Ivy Madness tournament and notched a 59-54 win over the Penn Quakers in the semifinal match-up on Friday, March 15.
Ellie Mitchell goes up for a basket in the Ivy Madness championship game.
In the semifinal game, senior Ellie Mitchell broke the all-time rebounding record at Princeton — a record held for the last 46 years by Maggie Benchich, Class of 1978. Last week Mitchell was also named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year for the third time in her career.
In addition to Mitchell’s accolades, senior Kaitlyn Chen was unanimously named to the All-Ivy first team for the second time, and also made the Academic All-Ivy team. Sophomore Madison St. Rose joined Mitchell on the All-Ivy second team; she was also named to the Ivy Madness All-Tournament team.
Chen was named the Ivy Madness tournament’s Most Outstanding Player for the third year in a row.
In the tournament finale, Chen and St. Rose combined for 35 points and Mitchell earned a double-double, adding 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Kaitlyn Chen, the Ivy Madness Most Outstanding Player, in action at Saturday's championship game against Columbia.
The Tigers are excited to travel to Iowa City for the first round.
"This is March, anything can happen ... We're excited to show everyone what Princeton is all about," said Mitchell.
Chen added that the veteran experience of the seniors — playing in their third NCAA postseason tournament — will help the younger members of the team stay poised in tough environments.
Men bow out in NIT play
After finishing the regular season as Ivy League champions, the men's basketball team earned a No. 2 seed in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) and hosted the University of Nevada-Las Vegas on Wednesday, March 20, at Jadwin Gymnasium.
The game was the eighth appearance in the NIT for the program, and the first time hosting a game since 1999. The Tigers fell short and ended their season with an 84-77 loss in the first round of tournament play.
Princeton Women's Basketball, Ivy Madness Champions for 2024.
