Women’s Basketball: Maryland Tops Tigers in NCAA Opener

In what would be her last game at Princeton, forward Leslie Robinson ’18 gave the wider world of women’s basketball a glimpse of the versatility that Tiger fans had come to treasure. Robinson scored nine points and grabbed six rebounds in Princeton’s NCAA Tournament loss to Maryland March 16. Her team-high five assists included the crisp passes to a cutting Bella Alarie ’20 late in the second quarter that sparked the Tigers’ most impressive stretch, when they trimmed a 10-point deficit down to five before halftime.

Maryland would flip the momentum in the third quarter, opening with the first four baskets after the intermission and extending its lead to 19 points by the period’s end, on their way to a 77-57 victory.

Robinson, the first and only Princeton player to record a triple-double (10 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists March 2 vs. Brown), led the Tigers into the tournament on a roll. Their 10 wins in the last 11 games were capped by two dominant performances in the Ivy League Tournament: a 78-57 semifinal win over Yale, and a 63-34 smothering of rival Penn in the final.

Against Maryland, though, Princeton struggled to find its offensive rhythm, and the Terrapins eventually found cracks in a solid Tiger defense that forced 10 first-half turnovers.

Abby Meyers ’21 led Princeton in scoring with 13 points, and Alarie added 12, along with six rebounds and four blocks. The Tigers finished the season with a 24-6 record.