INSIDE TRACK: Princeton University women’s basketball player Olivia Hutcherson boxes out a foe in a game earlier this season. Last Sunday, junior forward Hutcherson scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds to help No. 22 Princeton defeat Yale 76-50. The Tigers, now 14-1 overall and 2-0 Ivy League, host Dartmouth on January 17 and Harvard on January 19. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Justin Feil
Olivia Hutcherson got a boost when she was named Ivy League Co-Player of the Week ahead of the Princeton University women’s basketball team’s game at Yale last Saturday.
The honor was the third this season for a Tiger player, but it was the first for the junior forward from Johns Creek, Ga. She scored a career-high 20 points as Princeton pulled away from Penn for a 74-68 win on January 3 to open Ivy play.
“That was a huge blessing,” said Hutcherson. “It was a surprise because, of course, there were a lot of players that had great games, but I was super thankful. That was my first time. And honestly, if you had told me freshman year that I would ever get Player of the Week, I would not believe you. So that was huge.”
The Player of the Week honors tend to go to those with big scoring games, and that hasn’t been Hutcherson’s signature at Princeton. Her greatest value is seen mostly at the other end of the floor.
“Defender and rebounder, a rebounder on both ends, and the way she can attack the offensive glass,” said Princeton head coach Carla Berube. “But that is what she’s best at, her defense and moving her feet and just reading passing lanes and just getting her hands on the passes, getting tips and deflections and just being a smart, smart player.”
This year Hutcherson has also been scoring a lot more. After scoring 4.2 points per game last year in her first year starting, she is averaging 11.9 points per game this season. Hutcherson can face up and take defenders, score from the block and has a reliable mid-range shot in the halfcourt offense and is a great finisher in transition.
“It’s a combination of a lot of things for sure,” said Hutcherson. “I feel like I am so much more confident this year in myself. Of course, last year I was confident, but it was a new role. It was a big role that I wasn’t expecting with Maddie [St. Rose] getting hurt, and so I was starting and playing so many minutes. But I think this year, I’ve kind of settled into it. I feel confident. I think my teammates are confident in me. And overall, I think I’m just trying to let my defense fuel my offense. And I think when I’m getting good rebounds and we’re getting stops, that’s when I really am able to just score within our offense.”
Hutcherson followed the honor with another solid performance with 12 points, seven rebounds, a steal and an assist in a 76-50 win at Yale. St. Rose scored 18 points and had five assists, and Ashley Chea had 17 points and three assists as Princeton won its 12th straight game to improve to 14-1 overall, 2-0 in Ivy play.
“The Penn game for sure was closer than we wanted,” said Hutcherson. “This game, I think defensively we were a lot better at knowing the scout, and we set some goals before the game. I think we were super focused on just playing our best basketball, which that still wasn’t even it. But just defensively, I think we did a lot better, worked really hard like trying our best to box out. Even though they had some big girls, I think our rebounding was pretty good. And then I think for the most part, we were finding some good shots, sharing the ball, making sure everybody got a touch.”
In the wake of its loss to the Tigers, Yale dropped to 4-11 overall, 0-2 Ivy. Skye Belker did a good job limiting looks for Yale’s Ciniya Moore and the Tigers allowed only three offensive rebounds after giving up eight in the first half.
“We really clamped down on that and did a much better job of keeping them off the glass and even players like both Skye and Ashley did a great job boxing out,” said Berube. “And I think just getting some easy scoring opportunities in the break, we thought if we could get those rebounds or turnovers, if we got out, we could push the ball up and get some good looks. I thought we did that for a good part of the game. We’ve had some good balanced scoring.”
No. 22 Princeton will try to extend its winning streak and keep its strong start to the Ivy season going when it hosts Dartmouth (9-6 overall, 0-2 Ivy) on January 17 and Harvard (8-7, 1-1) on January 19.
“It’s a Dartmouth team that’s taken another step forward from last year too, I think,” said Berube. “They have a lot of experience coming back, both in the frontcourt and backcourt, and they’re big as well, from Clare Meyer, and then they’ve got some tough players like Cate MacDonald and Olivia Austin, so they’re good and tough, and I think we’re gonna have to be at our best on Saturday and cannot look past them whatsoever to be thinking about Monday, because they’re good enough to compete with anybody in this league, and so we’ll work on getting ready for them this week.”
For Hutcherson, it’s getting ready for another challenge of guarding someone taller and bigger than her. At 6’0, she’s routinely looking up at opponents in the paint.
“It’s definitely tough because for the position that I’m playing, I’m pretty undersized,” said Hutcherson, who is averaging 5.9 rebounds a game. “As a team, we somewhat are, but me especially. But I think it always goes back to the little things like trying to box out these girls is hard, but that’s what works. So trying to do that, trying to be physical and kind of bump them off their spot if they’re trying to post me up. That’s just what I have to do. Against Yale, the girl that I was guarding was pretty tall. And she was a good post-up player, but luckily, she wasn’t trying to post me up too much.”
It’s nothing new for Hutcherson, who has solidified her role as a standout defender while developing her offensive output. Over the first half of the season, she also had an intimidating look.
She had to wear a face shield to protect her nose that was broken in the first game of the season.
“It was comfortable, it was fine,” said Hutcherson. “Coach jokes around and says that she doesn’t think I could see as well with it on.”
Hutcherson’s nose is healed now, and she ditched the mask when the Ivy season started. Her face feels freer, but otherwise she hasn’t noticed the difference in games.
“I guess new year, no mask,” said Hutcherson. “And I started off with a great game. So far, it’s working pretty well.”
Hutcherson and the Tigers had to pick up their play against Yale with one of their regular starters, Fadima Tall, out due to an ongoing leg issue. Princeton is optimistic she will be back in the lineup for this next weekend, but Princeton got strong efforts from Taylor Charles, who’d hit a big shot late in the win over Penn, and Emily Eadie against Yale.
“Taylor did a great job,” said Berube. “That’s two really great games from her. She had one at Penn as well. And then I thought Emily really stepped up and gave us some great minutes. She was really battling with Yale’s forwards in there, and they certainly are much bigger than we are. They have a 6’5 player that starts, and I thought she really was strong in there, and got eight points as well, but did a great job just keeping them off the block.”
The Tigers had plenty of firepower to get by a Yale team that is one of only two in the league without a winning record. It’s been a strong start for the conference, and Ivy play has seen its share of early surprises with Brown and Cornell the only other 2-0 teams. Columbia, Harvard and Penn are all 1-1.
“We’re a lot closer to each other than I think we have been in the past,” said Berube. “So, it’ll be an interesting and exciting schedule ahead.”
The start has been promising, but the Tigers know there are a lot of games left to secure a spot in the Ivy League Tournament. That means a lot of time to still develop, as players and as a team.
“We talked a lot about how our defense this year is not as great as it’s been in the past,” said Hutcherson. “So, we’ve been working really hard on that, just working on the rotations, making the other team take a bad shot, not giving up even if we make a mistake on defense. And then we just worked on executing our plays, getting better at that as well. And we’re trying to just get really great at what we’re already good at. So, I think we’re a great transition team and we want to just keep working on that.”