Rallying In The 20th Quarter

TigerBlog sat in the balcony of Jadwin Gym Saturday evening, watching women's basketball and writing about women's lacrosse.

It was another long crossover Saturday, as TB covered both lacrosse games, writing about the men's game in between them, and then heading over to Jadwin in time for the last three quarters of Princeton-Harvard women's basketball.

Of course, even after all of the years that he's been doing this, days like Saturday are still his favorite kind, the ones with a lot of events. As he's said since Day 1, the best part about working in college athletics is going to the games and seeing the efforts of the athletes and coaches literally play out.

When you lose that part of it, then it's time to go do something else. TB has known a lot of people who have left the business of college athletics because they don't want to spend their nights or weekends at games. TB has never once gotten over that - in fact he still loves it - and that confirmed for him that he chose the right career path.

And so there he was Saturday, happily watching the women's basketball game while he wrote about the women's lacrosse team's 19-1 win over Columbia that had ended a few minutes earlier.

It was a huge game for the Tigers, who came into the weekend tied for first with Penn, whom the Tigers had beaten 68-53 Tuesday night. For both Princeton and Penn, this weekend was two things in one:
1) the sprint to an Ivy championship
2) the fourth and fifth games in eight days

In other words, both games this weekend would be must-wins for both teams as they chase a championship while at the same time a test of their physical and mental endurance.

And the opponents weren't exactly going through the motions. Harvard and Dartmouth made the trip down with their own goals - Harvard knew a sweep would mean first place as well while Dartmouth was chasing a spot in the Ivy tournament.

With that backdrop, nothing figured to be easy in any of the four games this weekend. And nothing was.

Of the four women's basketball game in Princeton and Philadelphia, here's what you had:
* one OT game
* one four-point game
* one three-point game
* one 17-point game ... but the winner was down one at the half

Added all together, and Princeton and Penn both swept, leaving the standings like this heading into the final two games:
Princeton 10-2
Penn 10-2
Harvard 7-5
Yale 6-6
Dartmouth 5-7
Cornell 5-7
Columbia 4-8
Brown 1-11

Princeton and Penn have clinched spots in the Ivy League tournament. Harvard could still miss out but would take care of that with a win against either Cornell or Columbia or even with some help. Still, entering the last weekend of the season, there are five teams who are competing for the last two spots in the women's field.

Princeton and Penn are playing for the championship and for the top seed. The two are on the road next weekend, with Princeton at Brown Friday and Yale Saturday and Penn at the opposite venues.

Either Penn or Princeton (or both) will definitely be the Ivy champ. It'll be the 10th straight year that one of them has won the title, and it could be the first time there's a tie.

As TB said, Princeton trailed Dartmouth at the half Friday night before sprinting away in the second half. In the game Saturday night, Princeton was facing a Harvard team that had lost 75-70 to Penn in overtime the night before, but the Crimson definitely wanted to ruin Princeton's senior night.
Princeton trailed at the half again, this time 27-25. The difference from a night earlier, when Princeton won 64-47 after being behind 28-27 at the break, was that instead of a 27-8 third quarter like the one against Dartmouth, Harvard still led after three quarters, forcing a very tense fourth quarter - Princeton's 20th of the week - that fully tested the home team.

In fact, Harvard still led with 4:51 to go at 56-54, and then it would be tied at 56-56 and 58-58 before Princeton shut the Crimson out for the last 3:32. Carlie Littlefield - TigerBlog would describe her performance as "fierce" - made what would prove to be the winning shot with three minutes left and then there was a lot of defense and a Gabrielle Rush free throw that made it a 61-58 final.

Littlefield, by the way, finished that five-games, eight-days run with 17 points and, more impressively, 40 minutes played.

Winning championships is not easy, and certainly this one won't be for whichever team (or teams) gets to the finish line.

For proof, just consider this weekend.