Women's Basketball Weekly Release - Week 19

Complete Women's Basketball Release in pdf format

Photos courtesy of Cornell, Harvard and Princeton Athletic Communications

PRINCETON, N.J. -- The 14-Game Tournament has been decided, as the Princeton women’s basketball team won its fourth-straight Ivy League title to earn an unprecedented fourth-straight berth to the NCAA Tournament.

Dating back to 1983, the League has sent a team to the NCAA Tournament 20 times, as Dartmouth earned the League's first-ever berth in 1983. The Ivy League was granted an automatic qualifier to the Big Dance starting in 1994, but still no team ever punched a ticket four-straight times, until now. Princeton earns its fourth-consecutive appearance to the Tournament and will find out its opponent on Selection Monday, March 18.

Prior to the Tigers' current run, Harvard made it to three-straight NCAA Tournaments from 1996-98, culminating with the Crimson's 71-67 upset of Stanford, the League’s only victory in the NCAA Tournament and to this day the only time a 16-seed has ever upset a one-seed in either the men’s or women’s tournament.

The Tigers (21-6, 12-1 Ivy) defeated Yale, 77-44, and Brown, 80-51, to clinch the title with one game remaining. They hold a two-game lead over Harvard (19-8, 10-3 Ivy), which sealed up second-place and the League’s automatic WNIT bid with a pair of wins over the weekend, 61-44 over Columbia and 66-56 at Cornell.

The Crimson came into the week tied with Penn (16-11, 9-4 Ivy) for second, but the Quakers split their two games, defeating Brown, 60-48, before falling to Yale, 70-65. Harvard owns the tiebreaker over Penn thanks to its sweep of Yale, which in turn swept the Quakers.

Yale wrapped up its season with a 13-15 mark, including an 8-6 record in Ivy play. Bulldogs senior Megan Vasquez poured in a season-high 24 points in Yale’s upset at Penn to surpass the 1,400-point plateau, becoming the sixth player in Yale history to accomplish the feat.

Cornell (13-15, 5-9 Ivy), Dartmouth (6-22, 4-10 Ivy) and Brown (9-19, 3-11 Ivy) all closed out their seasons. The Big Red and the Big Green each had three games on the week, including two against each other, as they made up the game that was postponed due to Winter Storm Nemo. Cornell swept the two games against Dartmouth, winning 53-45 and 60-48, before falling in its season finale to Harvard. The Big Green, meanwhile, suffered a defeat at the hands of Columbia (5-22, 3-10 Ivy) to end its 2012-13 campaign.  

Two games remain in the Ivy League regular season. On Tuesday, March 12, Princeton will travel south to Penn to take on the Quakers at the Palestra, while Harvard and Columbia will make up their contest that was postponed due to Nemo.

CO-PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
For the seventh time this season and the 14th of her remarkable career, Princeton senior Niveen Rasheed (Danville, Calif.) was named Player of the Week. She ranks second all-time in League history in Player of the Week awards for the season and for a career, trailing Harvard’s Allison Feaster in both categories. Feaster finished with 21 career Player of the Week awards and took home 11 in 1997-98.

Rasheed averaged 17.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.0 steals in two games last week, while shooting 51.7 percent from the field (15-of-29). She finished just shy of a triple-double against Yale, tallying 21 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and then followed that with a 14-point, nine-rebound, five-assist, two-steal performance in Princeton’s Ivy title-clinching victory over Brown.

Rasheed's Statistics for the Week

Cornell junior Allyson DiMagno (Fairport, N.Y.) became the first Big Red to earn four Player of the Week awards in a single season, surpassing the mark of three set by Mary LaMacchia (1994-95) and Jeomi Maduka (2007-08). DiMagno is now tied for ninth all-time in League history in Player of the Week awards received in a single season. She is the third Ivy to receive at least four Player of the Week awards in 2012-13, joining Rasheed and Harvard’s Christine Clark.

Cornell matches its program record for Player of the Week awards accumulated in a season, as it previously earned four in 1994-95 and 2007-08.

Playing in three games this week, as Cornell made up its game against Dartmouth that was postponed due to Winter Storm Nemo, DiMagno recorded three double-doubles to give her a League-leading 16 on the year, the most in a single season since Columbia’s Judie Lomax posted 21 in 2009-10-08.

DiMagno finished with more than half of Cornell’s points in a 53-45 victory over Dartmouth, scoring 27 on 8-of-12 shooting while grabbing 10 rebounds. It marked the most points by a Big Red in a single game since Maduka finished with 27 on Nov. 15, 2006. DiMagno recorded 19 points and 12 rebounds in a 60-48 win over the Big Green and then closed out her season with 13 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and five steals in a tough 66-56 loss to Harvard.

For the week, DiMagno shot 66.7 percent (6-of-9) from downtown and 91.3 percent (21-of-23) from the free throw line, including a 10-of-10 performance against the Crimson.

DiMagno's Statistics for the Week

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Not to be outdone, Harvard sophomore Temi Fagbenle (London) earned her 10th Rookie of the Week honor, tying her for first-place all-time in the Ivy League record book. Only two other players have ever earned 10 Rookie of the Week awards in a single season, Dartmouth’s Eliza Morrison in 2003-04 and Penn’s Diana Caramanico in 1997-98. Fagbenle has earned 12 of Harvard’s League-record 18 weekly awards this season, as she was named Player of the Week twice (Dec. 17, Dec. 31).

Fagbenle posted a pair of double-doubles, her sixth and seventh of the season, to help Harvard clinch second-place and receive the League’s automatic WNIT berth. She tallied 14 points and 12 rebunds, along with two assists, two blocks and one steal, in the Crimson’s 61-44 win at Columbia, and then recorded 16 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and a block in her team’s 66-56 victory at Cornell. Fagbenle shot 63.2 percent from the field in the two games (12-of-19), including 70.0 percent (7-of-10) against the Big Red.

Fagbenle's Statistics for the Week

HONOR ROLL
Kara Bonenberger, Penn (So., F – Walnutport, Pa.)
7 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks vs. Brown
20 points, 12 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 3 blocks, 50.0 FG% vs. Yale

Christine Clark, Harvard (Jr., G – Tucson, Ariz.)
5 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal at Columbia
22 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 46.2 FG%, 90.9 FT% at Cornell

Sheila Dixon, Brown (Sr., G – Schenectady, N.Y.)
18 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 100.0 FT% at Penn
16 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block at Princeton

Janna Graf, Yale (Jr., G – Mission Woods, Kan.)
10 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 50.0 FG% at Princeton
19 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 50.0 3FG%, 83.3 FT% at Penn

Keiera Ray, Penn (Fr., G – Aurora, Ill.)
16 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 57.1 3FG% vs. Brown
6 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals vs. Yale

Tyler Simpson, Columbia (Sr., G – Lawrenceville, N.J.)
19 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 83.3 FT% vs. Harvard
7 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal vs. Dartmouth

Megan Vasquez, Yale (Sr., G – Merrick, N.Y.)
3 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block at Princeton
24 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 62.5 3FG%, 83.3 FT% at Penn

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, March 12
*Princeton at Penn, 5pm
*Columbia at Harvard, 6pm

KEY
*-Ivy League contest