BLOOMINGTON, IN. -- No. 11-seed Princeton led for all but two minutes of its first round showdown with No. 6 Kentucky en route to a 69-62 win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Bloomington, In.
The Tigers move on to a second round matchup with No. 3 seed Indiana on Monday evening — game time is TBD.
Princeton was led by another sensational performance from Ivy League Player of the Year
Abby Meyers who racked up 29 points in the game.
The Tigers, who entered the game as an 11-seed despite being the No. 24-ranked team in the AP poll and No. 22 in the NCAA NET rankings, controlled the majority of the game and led by four (32-28) at the half. Kentucky, who won the SEC Championship less than two weeks ago, got as close as two (38-36) early in the second half, but the Tigers responded and held the Wildcats at arms length the remainder of the game.
Ivy Madness Most Valuable Player
Kaitlyn Chen backed up Meyers' 29 points with 17 of her own. Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year
Ellie Mitchell totaled eight rebounds in the game.
The win over Kentucky was Princeton's second-ever win in the NCAA Tournament and extended their win streak to 18. Kentucky also came into the game with a win streak of their own, extending 10 games. The Tigers held Kentucky to 36 percent shooting from the field, including 27 percent from three. However, Princeton was at 49 percent for the day.
Grace Stone and
Julia Cunningham had seven points each and combined for 10 boards as the Tigers outrebounded Kentucky 37-30.
Princeton's only other NCAA win came in 2015, when the Tigers defeated Wisconsin-Green Bay. Princeton has a chance to do something no Ivy League women's basketball team has ever done — make a Sweet 16 apperance.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
"Just thrilled to get this victory for us, for Princeton, for the Ivy League. The mid-majors are doing great and I love it. But just want to say thank you to Kentucky for a well-fought game." -- head coach Carla Berube
"I feel like we kind of like proved ourselves in the Ivy League. Credit to the coaching staff throughout the whole conference but they are just working hard on getting good players like Kaitlyn Chen, like Top-100 players on ESPN. It's a growing conference. It's just good to prove that the Ivy League, we can handle ourselves and we can really compete on a really, really high level and on a great stage." -- senior guard Abby Meyers
"Yeah, I mean, it really just gets down to like it's Ivy League defense, it's Ivy League play. I don't think a lot of people -- they just underestimate how good the Ivy League is at both ends. So we wanted to come in and just shock them, and I think we did that." -- senior guard Abby Meyers
"It's honestly just been so much fun playing with this team and that's what we talk about. We always play to like have fun because we enjoy playing with each other and we are proud of each other's success and that's what makes it seem so special ask that's the best part of it." -- sophomore guard Kaitlyn Chen
"We'd like to say this wasn't an upset in our minds. We were ready and knew we were going to be underestimated, just being a mid major, Ivy League team and it just feels great to break the curse of getting knocked out in the first round and we are going to set our sights on Indiana, prepare as best we can..." -- senior guard Abby Meyers
"People talk about there isn't any parity in women's basketball, and this is March Madness, and it's actually March Madness in women's basketball now. It's awesome for mid-majors because it's great basketball. Yes, Power Five, conferences like SEC, Big Ten, yeah, there's some great teams there as well. But you're seeing it, like there is awesome basketball at the mid-major, so I'm loving it." -- head coach Carla Berube