Tigers women working way up
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
The Princeton University women’s basketball team is taking a well deserved rest.
The Tigers used energy and hard work to go from a next-to-last Ivy League team last season to a contender in one year. They finished 14-14 overall, 9-5 in Ivy play with a 72-55 win at the University of Pennsylvania last Tuesday.
The Tigers are resting, but won’t rest on their laurels of a third-place finish in Ivy League. They will be back at it following spring break.
”I think the jump from getting there and being there is significant,” said PU head coach Courtney Banghart. “It is a big jump from seventh to third. The jump from third to first will be significant too. I don’t know when we’ll get there, but we’ll try to take steps forward next year.
”This year,” she added, “we have to think what are the things that will push us over the edge.”
The Tigers will have three All-Ivy performers returning, with second-team selection Addie Micir along with All-Rookie picks Devona Allgood and Lauren Edwards. Micir had 14 to finish as Princeton’s top scorer of the season as a sophomore, Allgood added 11 points and Edwards 10 in the win over Penn. It was Princeton’s fifth straight win.
”We recognize it’s all part of our journey,” Banghart said. “The problem is for our four seniors, it’s the end of the journey. We’re 11 points away from being 13-1. We’re getting there.”
Princeton will have to step forward without the services of graduating seniors Jessica Berry, Whitney Downs, Caitlin O’Neill and Julia Berger. Downs had 23 to lead all scorers in the win over Penn and the three others all contributed to the win, two as starters. Banghart pointed out their collective contributions helped the Tigers make the first major jump in the league.
”Leadership, that word is overused in sports and underappreciated,” Banghart said. “Those four have led us from morning workouts to how we handle ourselves to how we competed. They were pivotal to our progress.”
Banghart saw signs early that the Tigers could make a leap. It was the way they went about the offseason that started the transformation of the team.
”A few things happened,” Banghart said. “One is the complete investment of the players we had in the season and before the season. After last season, we knew we had to get better.
”The turnaround we had, we had total focus on the defensive end. We improved drastically in that area. We went from being second to last to second to first. We allowed 10 points less a game. We knew what we wanted to do. Last year we were too easy to score on. It takes changing their bodies a little. It takes the full investment and we got the full investment.”
That paid off in-season as Princeton was able to latch onto the defensive emphasis. Princeton allowed 11 points per game fewer than last season, part of the reason it won nine Ivy games, and could have had more if it weren’t for a few missed opportunities at the end of games. Only one Ivy loss was decided by more than four points.
”So much is experience,” Banghart said. “Even though there are seniors in the program, it’s only their second year with me. Every close game, every close win, every brutal loss, its gets put in our storage tank. We had two heartbreaking games at Harvard and Dartmouth. You have to compete every night.
”For our kids, what’s made us so much better is they’re unflappable,” she added. “If we lose two games, it doesn’t matter, we have to win our next game. Going into the Penn game, we knew we were going to finish third, but we had to win that game so our home loss to Yale by two would be seen as the low point and we wouldn’t just be seen as an inconsistent team. We needed that. The only teams we didn’t beat were the top two teams. And those games were pretty darn close.”
Princeton lost in overtime at home and by one point on the road to Dartmouth, which will represent the Ivy League in the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers know they can threaten the top teams. Beating them is the next step.
”Now this program is tasting where it could be,” Banghart said. “We have to work at it. I don’t worry about complacency. The top half is good, but it’s not good enough.”
It’s why after a little rest, the Princeton women’s basketball team will go right back to working toward taking the next jump.

