GETTING UP TO SPEED: Princeton University women’s basketball player Madison St. Rose dribbles upcourt last Wednesday as Princeton hosted Rice in its home opener. Senior guard St. Rose, who has returned from a knee injury that sidelined her for most of last season, scored a game-high 19 points to help the Tigers top Rice 69-56. Playing in the Battle 4 Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas over the weekend, Princeton went 2-0, topping Penn State 100-93 on Saturday and then beating Maryland-Eastern Shore 81-62 a day later. The Tigers, now 5-1, play at Rhode Island on November 26 before hosting DePaul on November 30 and Seton Hall on December 2. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
After being sidelined most of last season for the Princeton University women’s basketball team due to a knee injury, Madison St. Rose was rusty when she took the court for the squad’s season opener against Georgia Tech earlier this month.
“That was an adjustment in itself, the start was rocky,” said Princeton senior guard St. Rose, a 5’10 native of Old Bridge.
“I realized that it wasn’t practice, I couldn’t just trot around. I had to be on my A-game from the first minute out. I figured out my way. It wasn’t my best game. I tried to do the little things to help our team win.”
Last Wednesday as Princeton hosted Rice, St. Rose struggled in the early going before finding a rhythm as she scored a game-high 19 points to help the Tigers prevail 69-56.
“I definitely didn’t come out with a great start,” said St. Rose. “I just try to stay locked in and try to stay confident. I just kept trying to attack the basket because that was open.”
Princeton didn’t have a great start collectively against Rice as it trailed 50-49 heading into the fourth quarter before outscoring the Owls 20-6 over the last 12 minutes of the contest. It marked the third game this season where the Tigers put together a fourth quarter surge as they outscored Georgia Tech 24-11 in the fourth to rally for a 67-61 win in the opener and then had a 23-11 fourth to top Villanova 73-68 on November 12.
“Something just clicks, we really just don’t want to lose,” said St. Rose. “We know we are better than what we played in the first three quarters so it was a lot of communication, a lot of pushing the pace on offense, making things easy. We will figure it out in the first three. At least we know how to finish; we don’t go down on ourselves and we keep pushing through.”
As St. Rose gets up to speed after her knee injury, she is relishing being back in action.
“During the game today it was definitely hard, I was tired but I just love the game so much that injuries or pain doesn’t do anything to me,” said St. Rose. “I love being on the court, playing with people that I love and playing the game that I love. I am just happy to be on the court and be playing back in Jadwin and just taking each game as it comes.”
St. Rose loves the four-guard offense being employed by Princeton this winter. The backcourt combination of Ashley Chea, Skye Belker, Olivia Hutcherson, and St. Rose along with Fadima Tall in the post has given the Tigers an uptempo, potent attack. Playing in the Battle 4 Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas over the weekend, Princeton displayed their offensive prowess, going 2-0, topping Penn State 100-93 on Saturday and then beating Maryland-Eastern Shore 81-62 a day later.
“I really like the style, we have scorers, one through five, which is really impressive,” said St. Rose, who scored a season-high 23 points in the win over Penn State. “It makes the game a lot harder for other teams.”
Princeton head coach Carla Berube was impressed with how her players finished the game against Rice.
“Once we started getting stops, we did a better job defensively just reading their actions,” said Berube. “Then we were getting some rebounds and getting out in the open court and getting transition buckets. That’s Princeton basketball.”
While Berube appreciates her team’s penchant for big fourth quarters, she is looking for more consistency.
“I would like to play that way throughout,” said Berube. “If you have to choose one quarter where you have to be at your very best and if you are within distance of taking the lead, the fourth quarter is good. It means that we are in pretty good shape that we can sustain this for a whole game and that we still have gas in the tank.”
The return of St. Rose has been very good for the Tigers. “She played almost 36 minutes tonight,” said Berube. “It is so great having her out there, she is smart, she is strong, tough. She is a great leader. I like to have that court leadership, we definitely missed it last year. She is certainly bringing that. She is battle-tested, she has been in big games. She just knows the right things to say. We are looking for her, it is nice to have that option.”
Junior forward Tall has displayed a lot of toughness as she played well in her move to the post. Tall is averaging 14.7 points and 7.3 rebounds a game so far this season.
“We need her to be big and a big presence,” said Berube. “She has got to be tough inside. Fadima can step out and make it hard for a big post to guard her. She plays with a lot of confidence and a lot of toughness.”
While the Tigers lack height this season with no player over 6’2, they have used their athleticism to maintain their tradition of playing tough defense.
“It is nice that we can switch a lot because Fadima can play a point guard,” said Berube, whose main post player last season was 6’4 senior Parker Hill. “I am not sure that was Parker’s best asset. It can definitely be a positive but we don’t have a shot blocker in there like we did with Parker. I would say Fadima is a little bit more like Ellie [Mitchell]. Ellie was of course a really good defender but they have that kind of work around being slippery in the post on defense and not get buried inside. I think Fadima does a good job of that. We have to be able to double and dig and help her out in there. We have quick guards to get in there and help.”
With Princeton improving to 5-1 after the wins last weekend and playing at Rhode Island on November 26 before hosting DePaul on November 30 and Seton Hall on December 2, Berube believes the Tigers are heading in a good direction.
“I think we are taking the right steps forward that we need to in winning these games in times that we are not quite playing our best basketball for 40 minutes,” said Berube. “We are growing, we are getting better. We are learning how to play together. It has been a whole year since we played with Maddie and having so many scorers on the floor. Olivia is playing the four (power forward) instead of the three (small forward). I think we are just a work in progress. They come to work everyday. It is really, really fun coaching so I am excited for the games ahead.”
St. Rose, for her part, is confident that exciting times are ahead for the Tigers.
“I think we do have a good chemistry but it could be so much better,” said St. Rose. “We have had so much growth and I am glad we have a lot of games and a lot more of the season to prove. This is just the start for us, we have a lot more to go.”