STONE COLD
After Grace's shot, Princeton seeks Sweet 16 berth
The Princeton women’s basketball team is used to making history in March.
As Friday bled into Saturday back on Old Nassau, it made a little more.
Grace Stone hit a 3-pointer with 4.7 seconds remaining and the No. 10 seed Tigers rallied from an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat No. 7 seed N.C. State, 64-63, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
“She’s got ice in her veins,” coach Carla Berube said. “She has that look in her eyes that you know she’s going to make a play, make a shot.”
Princeton (24-5) is the first Ivy League team to win a game in consecutive tournaments, while this also marks the first time that an Ivy men’s and women’s team were victorious in the same year. The Princeton men upset Arizona on Thursday in Sacramento.
“We were looking at that and we’re like now it’s our turn,” senior guard Julia Cunningham said. “It’s a special week to be a Tiger.”
The Tigers trailed by eight with 5:44 remaining, but then held the Wolfpack (20-12) scoreless the remainder of the way with a smothering defense. Princeton forced five turnovers in that span, including one as N.C. State was trying to inbound the ball with 14 seconds to go before Stone hit the winning shot. The Wolfpack were also 0-for-5 from the field.
Stone and Kaitlyn Chen both finished with 22 points and Julia Cunningham had 14. On the winning basket, Chen found Stone on the right perimeter after Madison St. Rose set a hammer screen to free her up. Princeton was 8-for-26 on 3-pointers, but Stone made five of them.
“We practice end of game situations and have been in tight games all year,” Stone said. “That’s a shot
I’ve taken before and my teammates have confidence in me and if I didn’t make it they were going to get an offensive rebound.”
Chen was 8-of-25 from the floor, but she knocked down a huge 3-pointer with 55 seconds left that cut the deficit to 63-61.
Princeton went through an 0-for12 drought during the fourth quarter yet still managed to win.
“Defense travels,” Cunningham said. “That’s our motto and I think that’s what we’re going to fall back on in this tournament. You get to the end of the
game and we looked at each other and we’re like they can’t score any more.”
Mimi Collins led the Wolfpack with 14 points.
Princeton advanced to a secondround game against No. 2 seed Utah on Sunday (7 p.m., ESPN). The Tigers fell to Indiana by one at this stage last season and have never got past the second round.
“It’s been something that we’ve talked about,” Berube said. “We’ve been talking about one more because we lost by a point, by one basket and we’re going to give it our all.”