By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Michelle Miller loved being a part of Princeton University’s perfect start to the women’s basketball season.
After 30 wins, however, the junior guard and her Tiger teammates had their eyes on something bigger — one win in the NCAA tournament. Princeton earned it behind 20 points from Miller and four other players in double figures to help the eighth-seeded Tigers pull away from ninth-seeded Green Bay, 80-70, Saturday. It’s the first NCAA tournament win in program history, and bigger than their first 30 wins this season.
”Getting this victory is more fulfilling,” Miller said. “It’s something you’ve thought about and worked at for as long time. Being 30-0 is amazing. It’s really impressive and I’ll look back on it, but it’s not something I dreamed about doing. It’s not normally something you think of being able to do.
”It’s actually better,” she said. “I think it is because it’s on the national stage. When you think of college basketball, that’s what you think of — the NCAA tournament. That’s what everyone around the country is watching. That’s where you can show that having that undefeated record actually meant something. It showed we can perform on that big stage as well. When you’re a kid, that’s what you think of as college basketball. That was our goal coming in — to win a game in the NCAA tournament. That was always one of our goals.”
Princeton rewarded a huge contingent of its fans that traveled to Maryland for the game, among them Tigers freshman Leslie Robinson’s uncle, President Barack Obama, who sat in the middle of the family section behind the Princeton bench.
”It was extremely exciting to have him there,” Miller said. “That opportunity is just mind-blowing to play in front of the President.”
The game was tighter than the final score would indicate. Princeton only trailed for a total of three minutes in the contest, but it was down at halftime, 35-34, after Green Bay closed the half on a 13-4 run. Princeton stiffened in the second half when it held the Phoenix to 32 percent shooting after they shot 50 percent — and plenty of layups — in the first half.
”I think the second half our defense was better than the first half,” Miller said. “The first half, we gave up some easy baskets that weren’t characteristic of our defensive efforts throughout the season.”
Miller carried Princeton in the first half offensively with 15 of her 20 points, including a last-second shot to trim the Tigers’ largest deficit of three points to one. Miller, it was revealed after the game, has been under the weather and hadn’t even practiced. She was questionable for the game the day before, but didn’t show any ill effects as she made all four 3-point attempts in the first half.
”I think the first half, I was able to come out and be pretty aggressive,” Miller said. “My 3 especially felt good. I always want to be aggressive, especially a big game like that. I wanted to come out shooting.”
In the second half, Princeton flexed its muscle inside as Alex Wheatley came to life. She scored 13 of her 15 points in the second half to go with 10 rebounds. Her double-double was only overmatched by Annie Tarakchian, who hit back-to-back 3-pointers to start the second half and give the Tigers a lead they would never relinquish. She finished with 19 points and tied her career high with 17 rebounds and also added a team-high five rebounds. Vanessa Smith and Blake Dietrick also scored in double figures with 11 points apiece.
”Having different people step up at different points in the game was like a microcosm of the season,” Miller said. “I shot well in the first half. The second half, Annie brought a lot, Whitney started being a big presence down low, and we got a key presence off the bench from Vanessa, and Blake brings her energy and key free throws and her defense. That exemplifies who we are as a team. We have different pieces that can do well for us and we showed that today.”
Princeton held a 69-65 lead with 2:14 to go and missed a chance to expand its lead, but Tarakchian came up with a steal and Wheatley’s layup pushed the lead back to six, then eight on two Dietrick free throws. A 3-pointer by Green Bay gave them life, but Miller made two free throws and Dietrick and Tarakchian made 5-of-6 free throws in the final 28 seconds to seal the win.
”This means a lot because it’s something we’ll remember forever,” said PU head coach Courtney Banghart after improving to 31-0. “To win a tournament game, it’s not easy, against anybody. Green Bay is really good. We knew it would be an enormous challenge. These kids have taken a lot of pressure all year long and just played through it.
”I’ve been a fan of the NCAA tournament forever, and I’ll always be. To have an opportunity to be someone who is able to bring our team to the NCAA second round so far is a highlight, I’m enormously proud for Princeton, a place that deserves this moment.”
Princeton owned a 49-21 advantage in rebounding and shot almost 46 percent from the floor. They made 9-of-16 from 3-point range while holding Green Bay to 8-for-27 from beyond the arc.
”This was a blue collar game,” Banghart said. “That’s how we like it.”
The Tigers had only played two games under 12 points prior to their win over Green Bay, a team that came in riding an 11-game winning streak. Princeton proved it could beat a good team as well as win a close game.
”We definitely all trust one another,” Miller said. “We’re an experienced team. Most of the people out there are upperclassmen. That definitely helps. I think we definitely stick together really well. Most of our team are returners. We might not have had that many close games, but we did last year. Being able to play with each other has carried over to help us in situations. We did a good job of converting at the free throw line, especially today down the stretch.”
The win pushed the Tigers into a matchup with host and No. 1 seed Maryland, who was unbeaten in their first year in the Big Ten. The game was scheduled for Monday night after Packet deadline.
”If you ask all of us, we think we have a chance,” Miller said. “Today I felt like it was our game to definitely take. It might not be that type of situation, but I think we definitely have a fighting chance. After winning this game, I think going forward there really is no pressure on us at all.
”Our goal was to win the league and get back to the tournament and get this first win because it’s never been done for this program. Nobody is going to expect the Ivy League team to beat the No. 1 seed. We can embrace that role and play free and enjoy it and see what happens.”
