ON POINT: Princeton University women’s basketball player Ashley Chea heads upcourt in a game last season. Last Wednesday, sophomore point guard Chea scored a career-high 17 points to help Princeton defeat Villanova 70-61 in its home opener. On Sunday, Chea tallied 14 points in a losing cause as the Tigers fell 74-66 at Quinnipiac. Princeton, now 2-2, plays at Seton Hall on November 21 and at Rutgers on November 24. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

During her freshman season with the Princeton University women’s basketball team last winter, Ashley Chea served as an understudy to senior star point guard Kaitlyn Chen.

With Chen having departed and now playing for UConn as a graduate transfer, Chea is now applying the knowledge she gained from her mentor.

“I learned so much from her, I think that this year I am trying to take on her role but me and Kaitlyn play super differently,” said Chea, a 5’8 native of Los Angeles, Calif.  “I think both of our confidence spikes up when times are heated. I just try my best to lead the team and do whatever they need me to do.”

Last Wednesday as Princeton hosted Villanova in its home opener at Jadwin Gym, Chea led the way, tallying a career-high 17 points to help the Tigers prevail 70-61.

“After my first two shots, I felt super confident in myself,” said Chea. “My teammates kept on passing the ball back to me. They trust me and I trust them. My confidence comes from how much my teammates trust me as a point guard. When they put that confidence in me, I exert that back out to them. Every game we have to build on each other and I think we did that today.”

Chea is also speaking up more on the court. “Honestly it is tough for me to yell super loud,” said Chea. “With time, with poise and with patience, I think my voice will come as time goes on.”

With the game knotted at 28-28 at halftime, the Tigers made some noise in the third quarter, going on a 15-2 run to seize momentum.

“We came out with more poise and more confidence in each other,” said Chea. “We made the right plays at the right time, we found the hot hand.”

Chea looked inside to find the hot hands as forwards Parker Hill and Tabitha Amanze came up big with senior Hill tallying 10 points in 17 minutes of action and junior Amanze chipping in eight points in 14 minutes.

“Coming into this game, we knew that we have great posts, we want to get paint touches as much as possible,” said Chea. “Against Villanova, we had a size advantage. Parker and Tabby did a great job in every aspect. They came in this year as completely different players. They are more confident in themselves, they are ready to catch the ball whenever. They do their job. I am super happy to play with them.”

In the fourth quarter, Villanova did a good job as it pulled to within 59-58 before Princeton went on an 11-3 run to close the deal.

“We just had to get stops at the end,” said Chea. “Coach (Carla Berube) is super big on defense — we got stops when we needed to.”

Princeton head coach Berube liked the way her players responded down the stretch.

“Villanova turned the page a little bit in the fourth quarter, they started hitting some big shots,” said Berube. “They cut it to one and we had to find what we were made of and battle back and find some resiliency and I think we did that. It was a good ending.”

The Tigers have been getting some very good work from Chea.

“Ashley is doing great, she works so hard in practice, she is watching film, doing individual workouts,” said Berube. “She wants this, she wants to be the leader and the floor general. It is a work in progress. We are going to have some ups and downs. She just needs to stay the course because we have all of the confidence in the world in her. It was great to see her finding a good rhythm offensively. I thought she did a pretty good job defensively too. I have been really excited about her and her growth from last year to this year.”

Berube was excited by contributions she got from Hill and  Amanze against Villanova.

“We saw that from Parker last year, really stepping up,” said Berube. “Tabby has been so hobbled by injuries here. She hasn’t played basketball for a whole season for a really long time. She is getting her feet wet, she did some really great stuff today. We are trying to pound the ball inside, we are trying to attack the basket.”

In stepping up to hold off the Wildcats, the Tigers were spurred by a raucous crowd of 925 on hand at Jadwin.

“It so fun being back here, it was a great crowd too on a Wednesday night,” said Berube. “It is an amazing time for women’s basketball right now. Hopefully we can benefit from that and the way things are trending. Who knows if we were on the road if we win this game. Being in Jadwin in front of the amazing fans, we could pull out the victory.”

The win also helped Princeton develop some grit. “We are finding our identity and our character,” said Berube, whose team fell 74-66 at Quinnipiac last Sunday to move to 2-2 and plays at Seton Hall on November 21 and at Rutgers on November 24. “You have to dig deep in some of these games and find what you are made of and who is going to step up.”

Chea, for her part, believes that the Tigers have plenty of character.

“We play with such resilience, no matter what is happening,” said Chea. “We come out and we are there for each other. That is one of the biggest things we have learned over time, that we can lean on each other and lean on the coaches.”