Madison St. Rose ’26 Expands Her Arsenal to Lead Women’s Basketball

The first basketball game Madison St. Rose ’26 played for Princeton in 358 days was, in her words, the “craziest game ever.”

The Tigers got stuck in Newark Airport for 13 hours before their season opener, arriving in Atlanta after midnight for a 2 p.m. tipoff — and then mounted a fourth-quarter comeback to defeat Georgia Tech. St. Rose had 13 points, five rebounds, and four assists in her return after tearing her ACL in November 2024.

To St. Rose, that game validated all her hard work in rehab. She said she’s felt like herself since preseason, and she’s even stronger and faster than before. During her recovery, she learned how to move more efficiently, which has enhanced her athleticism and helped her conserve energy. That is helping her not only now, but also next season, when she’ll have another year of eligibility to use outside of the Ivy League.

“It was very cool to learn about my body and learn the mechanics of how to make myself more explosive,” she said. “Learning that and then now adding the basketball aspect, I was able to … make myself a more athletic player.”

St. Rose is averaging 16.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 32.9 minutes per game, all career bests. She has played in 18 of 20 games, though she appeared to tweak her knee during a loss to Columbia on Jan. 30. St. Rose did not play in the Tigers’ Jan. 31 win over Cornell. Head coach Carla Berube said that she’s “day to day.”

St. Rose has particularly excelled against some of Princeton’s toughest opponents, scoring 20 points in a loss at Maryland and 19 in an overtime win against Harvard.

“She’s playing like she’s on a mission,” Columbia head coach Megan Griffith said before facing Princeton.

St. Rose is making her presence felt differently than she did two seasons ago. She’s taking and making more shots at the rim and the free-throw line. As a 5-foot-10 guard, she’s also posting up smaller defenders with the space Princeton’s new perimeter-oriented offense creates inside.

St. Rose said the offense gives her more flexibility to “be more of a facilitator and be more creative in what I want to do, instead of just being a spot-up shooter.”

With St. Rose leading the way, Princeton’s offense has been elite. The Tigers rank 34th nationally with 106.1 points scored per 100 possessions, and every starter averages at least 11 points.

“We have a lot of scorers on the court,” Berube said. “It makes my job a lot easier, not having to sort of manufacture ways to score, just putting our really good players in position to make the plays that they can make on their own.”

On the court, St. Rose is unflappable, rarely reacting after good or bad plays. But ask her about her comeback, and the joy is obvious.

“It’s been so much fun,” St. Rose said. “Playing in these big moments versus watching from the sidelines is a huge difference, and … playing with this team and the people that I love being around 24/7, it just makes basketball even more fun.”