ON FIRE: Princeton University women’s basketball player Madison St. Rose goes in for a layup past Saturday as Princeton hosted Brown. Senior guard St. Rose poured in a career-high 30 points to help the Tigers prevail 69-37. Princeton, now 21-3 overall and 9-2 Ivy League, plays at Dartmouth on February 27 and at Harvard on February 28. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
Madison St. Rose struggled a bit from the floor for the Princeton University women’s basketball team as it hosted Brown last Saturday.
Tiger senior guard St. Rose hit just 2-of-7 shots in the first half but did go 8-of-8 from the free throw line as Princeton jumped out to a 31-18 halftime lead over the Bears.
Although her shot was off, St. Rose was undeterred going into the second half.
“I just stayed confident and my teammates were confident in me,” said St. Rose. “I just kept playing. Even though I was missing shots, that wasn’t what I was focused on. I was focused on the scout and just executing.”
St. Rose executed very well in the second half, pouring in 22 points as she achieved a new career-high of 30 points, helping the Tigers cruise to a 69-37 win over the Bears before a crowd of 1,661 at Jadwin Gym and improving to 21-3 overall and 9-2 Ivy League.
In reflecting on her offensive outburst, St. Rose realized that she was in a zone.
“I was like oh my goodness, I am really hot right now,” said St. Rose, who was later named the Ivy League Player of the Week. “Everything was connecting. Honestly I have been waiting for my peak game and I feel like this was it. My teammates had so much confidence in me. They keep feeding me the ball and that just made me want to keep shooting it. I just felt good about myself but I really couldn’t do it without them.”
Despite playing with a large brace on her left knee, St. Rose said she is feeling fine.
“My knee is good, it is like an ankle taping for my knee,” said St. Rose, who was sidelined most of last season due to a torn ACL. “It is just to keep my knee stable. Everything is good, no pain. I am feeling like myself.”
In producing such a good effort in the win over the Bears, Princeton was motivated by a special film session.
“We watched a video about grit and just making gritty plays,” said St. Rose. “I feel like that really fueled us going into this game. We were diving on loose balls, winning 50/50 balls and just doing all of the hustle plays. I think that is what we are all about.”
The Tigers raised their game at both ends in the fourth quarter as they outscored Brown 23-4.
“We had to finish the game strong, there was a lot of times during the season where we were up and down but I feel like in fourth quarter we were just so consistent,” said St. Rose. “We held them to four points in the fourth quarter, that is amazing. It is just us keeping that same mentality, going hard, winning everything, making it tough for them and attacking them. I feel like it was just really good. We know that we have only three games left in the conference season and we are giving our all for those three games. We are trying to make it to the Ivy tournament and we have big plans ahead.”
In the view of St. Rose, the performance in the win over Brown was a confidence builder for the tigers as they head into the homestretch of the regular season.
“This game kind of showed that we are Princeton basketball,” said St. Rose. “I feel like we have been trying to find it this whole entire conference season. That game was really good. The offense was flowing well, the defense was flowing well. We executed so well. We are just really proud of our ourselves.”
Earning their second straight win since a 70-56 loss to Columbia on February 13, working hard in practice helped Princeton get back on the right track.
“Last weekend that was very tough for us, that is in the past now,” said St. Rose. “It was a brand new week to bounce back, get going and figure out what was going on. I feel like we showed it today. Every single day when we came into practice, we worked really hard. We made it tough for each other so when it came to the game, everything just felt easy.”
In addition to producing a milestone game against Brown, St. Rose recently achieved another benchmark as she passed the 1,000-point mark in her Tiger career.
“I couldn’t do it without my teammates and the coaches because they do have so much trust in me,” said St. Rose, a 5’10 native of Old Bridge, who is averaging 16.5 points a game this year and now has 1,137 points in her career. “They run a lot of plays for me and the only thing I can do is to try and execute if it is making a shot or getting someone open. I feel like I draw so much attention so I always just have to make the right play. With 1,000 points I am joining a really good group of girls that were also Princeton’s best. So to be seen as one of those, I couldn’t be more happy.”
Princeton head coach Carla Berube was very happy to see St. Rose go off against the Bears.
“Maddie was being aggressive, getting to the free throw line and knocking down her foul shots so I think her shot was feeling pretty good,” said Berube. “Then the floodgates opened, especially in the fourth quarter. She really had the hot hand and we just kept feeding her. She was making good decisions with the ball.”
The team’s defensive effort in the fourth quarter was a product of some aggressive play.
“It was getting stops and being tougher on defense,” said Berube. “I thought they got some easy looks from three and that third quarter and they were knocking them down. We just put the clamps down and made then really work for every shot. Then they started missing a couple and then we got out in transition. When our defense is playing well, we can get easy buckets.”
Junior forward Fadima Tall’s toughness helped the Tigers stifle the Bears.
“Fadima’s defense was awesome,” said Berube, who also got 11 points from Tall. “She had five steals, she had 13 boards. She was directing traffic out there. She was really, really solid on the defensive end.”
Like St. Rose, Berube pointed to daily intensity on practice as a key to the performance against Brown.
“I think it is because we have some really great practices and we need to keep doing that,” said Berube. “We need to just keep piling on great practices and working on the things that we need to keep going into February and March. It is important. The practices are what leads to good games like this.”
With Princeton playing at Dartmouth on February 27 and at Harvard on February 28, Berube knows that the Tigers need to button up things at both ends of the court.
“It is playing tough defense, it is communicating well and talking through screening action,” said Berube, whose team is currently tied with Columbia atop the Ivy standings and has clinched a berth in the league’s postseason tournament. “Then it is execution of our offenses. Yes we will get some things in transition but when the defense is back we have got to execute. We have to stay spaced from each other. We have got to feed the hot hand as well.”
St. Rose believes that execution, grit, and focus are the main points of emphasis as Princeton heads into March.
“I would just say keep being tough, keep being aggressive but also play with a lot of poise,” said St. Rose. “I think when we play our basketball, we don’t let other teams dictate what we want to do. We just dictate what we want them do and everything flows really well. It is also just staying consistent. No matter how we are shooting, I feel our intensity will stay the same. We won’t let anything make us drop it all.”