POSITIVE VIBE: Princeton University women’s basketball first year head coach Carla Berube, center, enjoys a light moment at the program’s annual Media Day last Monday, flanked by senior star Balla Alarie, right, and junior standout Carlie Littlefield. Berube, the successor to Courtney Banghart, now the head coach at North Carolina, will get her tenure underway when Princeton hosts Rider on November 5. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Justin Feil

The disappointment of their season-ending 82-77 loss to Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA tournament last March was still fresh in their heads when the Princeton University women’s basketball team began thinking about this year.

The Tigers knew they would be returning a two-time Ivy League Player of the Year in senior Bella Alarie, a floor general in junior Carlie Littlefield, the highly regarded sophomore Abby Meyers, who missed a year after a promising freshman campaign, a good supporting cast of sophomores that had good experience, and a strong incoming freshman class to follow a 22-10 season.

“After that game, we talked a lot about what the future would hold for our team and we want to make history,” said senior forward and co-captain Alarie.

“We saw it was a really close game and an opportunity to win and it just kind of got away from us in the end, but knowing that’s a game we could have won gives us a lot of confidence as a group and we want to go further than that this year. We have high expectations for ourselves and we know we can reach them. Although it was a heartbreaker, we got a lot of confidence from that game.”

The only unforeseeable development since then has been a coaching change. With head coach Courtney Banghart leaving for North Carolina, the Tigers are now being guided by Carla Berube, who led Tufts University to the Division III national championship game twice in the last five years of her 17-year career there.

“I’ve been very happy with the way they work every single day, the leadership from Bella, Taylor (Baur) and Carlie, the upperclassmen,” said Berube, who posted a 384-96 record at Tufts.

“They’ve done a really, really great job of buying into what we’re teaching and coaching. They’re very committed to the growth and committed to taking everything we say and trying to transfer it to every single drill and any time we get to get up and down the floor.”

The first look at Princeton under Berube comes when the Tigers host local rival Rider on November 5 at Jadwin Gym.

“We are very excited for the season to begin next Tuesday,” said Berube. “It’s been a great month of practice. We have a couple scrimmages under our belt and we seem to be getting better every day. That’s the main goal at this point in the season, just taking steps forward every single day. We’re looking forward to our Rider game next Tuesday.”

Berube and her staff are big on establishing relationships and they have been working to build new ones at Princeton with their players.

“It’s been really fun getting to know them,” said Berube. “It’s something that me and my staff have been really committed to this preseason. It is vital to successful teams that there are open lines of communication between coaches and players, players and players, coaches and coaches, I think the communication piece is so vital. They’re a great group. They’re a lot of fun. Every day, I can’t wait for 4:45 to roll around and see them on the court.”

It didn’t take many afternoons for Princeton players to learn that playing defense will be paramount to getting playing time for Berube.

“One of the big things this year is our emphasis on defense,” said Alarie, who averaged 22.8 points and 10.6 rebounds a game last season.

“That’s something we’re really committed to every day in practice. It’s different rotations than what we’re used to, so in a lot of ways I feel like a freshman again learning Coach Berube’s style of defense. It has been really awesome. I think we’re a real cohesive unit when we’re locked in. That’s been a big change. I’m excited about it. We look really good on the defensive end.”

Berube has been pleased with the way the Tigers have adapted to her demands, and feels lucky to be walking into a program that has established a winning culture. Banghart left as the winningest coach in Princeton history at 254-103 in 12 seasons that included seven Ivy titles. The last time Berube took over a team was 17 years ago when she inherited a nine-win Tufts team.

“Back then I had no idea what I was doing,” said Berube. “I’m not sure I know that much more, but I know who I am as a coach. I said a couple months ago, it’s certainly not broken here, it’s a pretty great machine that I’ve walked into. I’m just putting my spin on things. Bella talked about the defensive end and that’s definitely a work in progress. We’ll be watching film on that today before practice. It’s a very talented group and they know how to work. It’s just my staff and I putting in what we think can work well with the personnel that we have.”

Princeton has four of its top six scorers back and adds a freshmen group of Ellie Mitchell, Nicole Young, Maddie Plank and Maya McArthur. The rookies have been pushing the veterans. The Tigers also returned Meyers, who missed last year due to an academic policy violation. Meyers was the Tigers’ second-leading scorer in Ivy games as a freshman in 2017-2018.

“It’s great to have Abby back, not just on the team but back on campus,” said Berube of Meyers who averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds a game overall in her debut campaign. “And she’s been great. She’s a strong, strong player and I’m looking forward to playing her.”

Running the offense for the third straight season will be Littlefield, who has been reliable and responsible in her first two years. She’s played older than she is, and now is an upperclassman who is taking the lead in orchestrating Berube’s new attack.

“Coach Berube is really big on defense and using that to fuel offense,” said Littlefield, who averaged 13.4 points a game and had a team-high 91 assists in 2018-19. “We’re going to be pushing the ball up. She doesn’t want me to jog it up ever. She wants me to sprint the ball up the floor so we have as much time as possible on the shot clock to get a good shot.”

Littlefield is looking forward to a homecoming when the Tigers play in her home state at Iowa on November 20, one of 13 non-conference games in November and December before Princeton opens up defense of their Ivy title January 11 at Penn.

Last winter, Princeton lost two of its first four Ivy games before going unbeaten in its next 12 contests until it fell to Kentucky.

“Our schedule is very challenging,” said Alarie. “We’re playing some really high powered RPI teams. We’ll be challenged every day we go out on the court. I think that’s what prepares us best for the Ivy League and the postseason if we want to achieve all the goals we set for ourselves. We’re playing tough opponents, but when you’re battle tested, it does make you feel more confident going into conference play.”

Princeton and Penn tied for the top spot in the conference’s preseason media poll. The two rivals have played in the Ivy League Tournament final in each of the last three years.

“I think we really own that bullseye,” said Alarie. “I think that makes us a stronger team, knowing that we’re going to get everyone’s best game every night. I think we step on the floor the other team is going to challenge us, they want to beat us and we want to beat them because we want to be the best in the league. I think we’ve grown to love having that target on our backs.”

The Princeton veterans know more of what to expect from their Ivy games and weekends than does Berube at this point but she is anxious to jump in.

“I followed it,” said Berube. “I haven’t coached in it, but I know quite a bit about it. I’ve watched a lot of games and went to Harvard games in the past. I know a lot of the coaches in the league, really great coaches, smart X’s and O’s, and they get their teams to play at a really high level. I know how important every game is and how competitive it will be. I also wanted to be in this league, so I’m excited for the challenges that await.”