Princeton’s Chen 1st-Team All-Ivy; Mitchell Defensive POY
When the Princeton women’s basketball team arrives in New York City to defend its Ivy Madness title, it will do so with a unanimous First Team All-League selection and the Defensive Player of the Year.
Seniors Kaitlyn Chen and Ellie Mitchell were honored by the league on Tuesday for their outstanding seasons.
Chen was a First Team AllLeague pick, while Mitchell was named Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Columbia’s Abbey Hsu and Megan Griffith won Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively. Penn’s Mataya Gayle is the Rookie of the Year.
Last season’s Player of the Year, Chen was excellent again as the Tigers went 23-4 overall and 13-1 in the league. They shared the regular-season title with Columbia, but earned the No. 1 seed thanks to a higher NET ranking.
The San Marino, Calif., native averaged 15 points, 4.2 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game. She ranked seventh in the league in scoring and led the league in assists.
There was no surprise Mitchell racked up another DPOY after Princeton led the Ivy in scoring defense once again. The Tigers held opponents to 51.1 points per game, which was nine points better than the next closest team.
A 6-1 forward from Chevy Chase, Md., Mitchell is a tenacious rebounder. She led the league with 8.9 boards per game, 3.7 of which came on the offensive end. She posted double-digit rebounds in 12 games, with a season-high 19 coming against Villanova in early December.
Hsu was the other unanimous First Team All-Ivy selection. Other First Team picks were Brown’s Kyla Jones, Harvard’s Harmoni Turner and Penn’s Jordan Obi.
Mitchell landed on the Second Team alongside sophomore Madison St. Rose. The Old Bridge native averaged 14.2 points and had seven games of 20 or more points.
The Ivy League Tournament tips off with a pair of semifinal games on Friday. Princeton faces fourthseeded Penn, while the other semi pits second-seeded Columbia against third-seeded Harvard.
The two winners meet in Saturday night’s championship game for the Ivy’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
The Tigers are considered a strong at-large candidate should they need to go that route with a NET ranking of 34 and were projected as a No. 9 seed in ESPN’s latest mock bracket.