Penn hopes to upset powerhouse Princeton in the Ivy League women’s basketball tournament

Princeton has been nationally ranked five times this season, and has an 11-game winning streak against Penn. Coach Mike McLaughlin and veteran forward Jordan Obi know what their team has to get right.

Penn coach Mike McLaughlin talks with his team at the end of practice inside Rockwell Gymnasium earlier this week.Read moreTyger Williams / Staff Photographer

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published March 14, 2024, 1:47 p.m. ET

It’s a daunting task not just by Penn standards, but by just about any standard.

Can the Quakers (15-12, 7-7 Ivy) topple a Princeton powerhouse that’s been ranked in the top 25 five times this season, and has an 11-game winning streak in the all-time series — all by double digits, and all holding Penn under 60 points?

That’s what coach Mike McLaughlin and his players will be up against Friday in the Ivy League Tournament semifinals at Columbia’s cramped Levien Gym (4:30 p.m., ESPN+).

“We’ve been working on different pieces of the game to try to narrow the gap,” McLaughlin told The Inquirer. “There’s obviously a gap when you play someone a few times and they beat you by double digits. But portions of [those] games, I mean, we were in a one-point game with five minutes to go in the third the other day, we were tied with them going into the fourth.“

Closing that gap will require solving Princeton’s stingy defense, led by three-time league defensive player of the year Ellie Mitchell. Penn’s Stina Almqvist, Jordan Obi, and Ivy League rookie of the year Mataya Gayle all ranked in the top 10 scorers in the league this season, but it will take everyone firing on all cylinders to pull off the upset.

“We’ve gotten good shots at the basket — better than we’ve had in the past,” McLaughlin said. “We have three predominant scorers, two that struggle to score a little bit at times. But you can’t win games in the 50s, right? You’ve got to be able to score 60, 65, to even have a shot, and that’s kind of where we’re trying to get to.”

McLaughlin has had big-time freshmen before, but it hasn’t been too often that he’s had two at once. He does this season in Gayle and fellow guard Ese Ogbevire, and they’ve long been swimming in the deep end. Friday won’t be any different, even though they haven’t experienced a conference tournament environment yet.

“I’d be shocked if they respond any different than they did all year,” McLaughlin said. “Mataya’s been pretty consistent, regardless of who we play. … Ese, I don’t think anything really bothers her, period.”

Obi’s focus, at least during an interview this week, was on her defense. Princeton can beat you from the outside with guards Madison St. Rose and Kaitlyn Chen, and inside with Mitchell, the latest in a lineage of Tigers frontcourt stars. The last two, Abby Meyers and Bella Alarie, made it to the WNBA.

“We need to be engaged and not take any possession off,” Obi said. “They got the ball out quick, got a lot of transition points last game. So I think that’s one of our focuses: not letting them get so comfortable offensively, and get to where they want to get.”

An upset is far from certain, but there is one near-certainty: The Ivy’s high level will be on display for everyone who watches. Princeton (23-4, 13-1) is No. 34 in the NET rankings, and Columbia (22-5, 13-1) ran the Tigers neck-and-neck all season. Each team’s only league loss was on the other’s home floor. The Ivy had to use the NET rankings, where Columbia is No. 53, to break the tie to set tournament seedings.

Princeton and Columbia could both make the NCAA Tournament, especially if the Lions win the weekend on their home court. ESPN has them in the first four out, sharing the line with Penn State and ahead of Villanova and St. Joseph’s.

Columbia will face No. 3 seed Harvard (16-11, 9-5) in Friday’s second semifinal (7:30 p.m., ESPN+). Penn edged out Brown for fourth, as both went 7-7 in conference play but Penn had a better record against Harvard.

The viewing audience will include some spirits out West. Southern Cal’s roster includes Ivy graduate transfers Kayla Padilla (Penn), Kaitlyn Davis (Columbia), and McKenzie Forbes (Harvard). Star freshman JuJu Watkins is a household name, but all three transfers have been regular contributors to a team that just won the Pac-12 Tournament and is projected for a No. 1 NCAA seed.

They show the Ivy’s quality just as much as the league ranking No. 7 in the conference RPI standings — above the American and Atlantic 10. And if the transfer portal-watchers get it, perhaps more fans are about to.

“I think if they had a television, if they had the internet, and if they would have done some research, they wouldn’t have had people try to keep telling them how good it is,” McLaughlin said. “I mean, just look at the success of the league. Look at the talent. Watch the games, put the TV on, watch the talent of these kids. Watch the size, the athletic skill.”