CAREER DAY: Princeton University women’s basketball player Ashley Chea dribbles upcourt in a game last year. Last Saturday, sophomore guard Chea scored a career-high 25 points as Princeton defeated Penn 74-60. Chea was later named the Ivy League Player of the Week. The Tigers, now 16-5 overall and 7-1 Ivy League, host Brown own February 14 and Yale on February 15. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

With the Princeton University women’s basketball team hosting Penn last Saturday afternoon and attracting a throng as it held its annual celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, Ashley Chea drew special inspiration.

“It means everything to me, I was that girl once,” said Princeton sophomore guard Chea, reflecting on the event that resulted in a crowd of 2,631 at Jadwin Gym, including hundreds of young girls.
“I am just super incredibly grateful to be in the spot that I am and to be around incredible people. I hope that all of these girls see that. I hope that they know they can do that as well.”

Giving the fans plenty to cheer about from the opening tipoff, Chea tallied 11 points in the first quarter as Princeton jumped out to a 28-6 lead.

“We came out strong, we set the tone for the entire game,” said Chea, reflecting on the first quarter outburst. “We worked on Penn this entire week. We executed all of our plays and we played super well in the beginning with a lot of confidence.”

Continuing to execute, Chea, a 5’8 native of Los Angeles, piled up a career-high 21 points by halftime and ended up with 25 as Princeton cruised to a 74-60 win.

“I think that came from my teammates, they instill a lot of confidence in me and my shot,” said Chea, assessing her performance which saw her her hit 10-of-15 shots, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range. “I am just so grateful to be on a tram that is so supportive and so inclusive of me.”

Chea acknowledged that she didn’t start the day off in the zone.

“I felt off in shootaround today, it was a weird feeling in game,” said Chea, who was later named the Ivy League Player of the Week. “I made all of the shots in the game but I missed all of the shots in shootaround.”

With Princeton playing at Jadwin for the first time since January 18, Chea and her teammates were fired up to be back at home.

“It feels so nice, I think I can speak for my whole team, it is just nice having all of our friends come to watch us play,” said Chea. “It is just fun.”

Princeton head coach Carla Berube enjoyed a very nice afternoon, earning the 500th win of her career and celebrating the achievement with the players after the game. Berube is now 116-22 overall (.841) as Princeton’s head coach after going 384-96 (.800) at Tufts University.

“It means that I have been doing this for quite a while,” said Berube, reflecting on the milestone. “I have been at two really incredible universities with a lot of great student athletes and coaches. Lauren Dillon has been with me for four years as a player and then however many it has been as an assistant — seven. I am just so grateful to be around so many great people.”

Berube was grateful to see her team roar out of the gate with its 28-6 first quarter onslaught.

“The start was really great, the defense was awesome and it definitely fueled our offense,” said Berube. “We got out and did a great job on the break. We did a great job breaking their press. We made some shots.”

Chea certainly hit a lot of shots for the Tigers. “Ashley was phenomenal, when she is feeling it, she is feeling it,” said Berube. “She has the green light to take most shots. She just got us going.”

After Penn got going with 19-11 run in the second quarter, the Tigers regained momentum heading in the second half.

“We lost a little of that in the second quarter but then got it back toward the end of the second quarter and the third quarter,” said Berube. “Penn is a very good team, they are not just going to back down. We needed to just play our game. We were trying to pound the post. We missed some bunnies here and there inside but I thought we did a good job of executing our offense and getting the things we wanted to look at. I thought our defense was a little suspect in the second half for sure. There its definitely room for improvement and things to work on.”

Tiger sophomore guard Belker executed very well down the stretch, scoring 11 of her 15 points on the day in the second half.

“She is just smooth right, she is in the right place at the right time making the right reads,” said Berube. “She gets into the paint for little jump shots.”

Princeton’s twin towers, senior Parker Hill and junior Tabitha Amanze, starred in the paint. Hill contributed eight points and four rebounds into win while Amanze chipped in 12 points and four rebounds.

“Parker and Tabby were great, we have an advantage inside, especially when [Katie] Collins went out,” said Berube. “They did a great job of scoring inside and sealing well and we found them.”

Like her players, Berube was fired up to be back at Jadwin.

“It is a great environment, the crowd was great today,” said Berube. “It is always fun where that second level is open and you see a lot of people there just celebrating girls and women in sports too. There was a lot of young girls in the crowd. We love playing here. We would rather not be on the road so to be back in Jadwin is awesome.”

With Princeton’s homestand continuing as it hosts Brown on February 14 and Yale on February 15, Berube is fired up for another big weekend at Jadwin.

“Now it is on to the next weekend, it is going to be our senior weekend,” said Berube. “Brown is tough, we saw that last weekend (in a 60-47 win on February 1), and Yale too. It is going to be a really important week of practice heading into another big Ivy weekend.”

Chea, for her part, believes that the Tigers are heading in the right direction.

“We feel good, we played well today,” said Chea. “I think that is good for our confidence and for everything like that.”