Following a 2023-2024 season with just one victory in the Ivy League, women’s basketball entered 2025 with the goal, as head coach Emily Garner puts it, to be “more focused on the process than results.”
In their fifth conference match of 2025, that focus paid off. Despite ultimately losing to Princeton (13-5, 4-1 Ivy League), Cornell showed remarkable improvement from their last three bouts with the Tigers.
“Today was a good game to show where we’re headed,” Garner said. “Obviously, we’re not there yet. We have to close the game and get it done — but it’s progress, and that’s where we want to be.”
The 62-54 defeat for the Red (4-14, 0-5 Ivy League) stands in stark contrast to the teams’ first matchup on Jan. 4, where the Tigers secured a 72-39 victory in the Ivy League season opener. In 2024, Princeton won 79-38 and 85-47 against Cornell.
Saturday’s game began in a familiar pattern, as a seven-point run in the first four minutes catapulted Princeton to an early lead. A three-pointer from junior forward Emily Pape failed to cut the Tigers’ momentum, and they continued into an eight-point run. Princeton ended the first quarter up 20-9, with Parker Hill netting eight of the team’s points.
After Princeton’s Fadima Tall opened the second with a three-point jump shot, the Red took a ten-point run to narrow the gap to 23-19. Cornell went to halftime down 29-22, and they had outshot Princeton, who had scored 25 percent for a total of nine points.
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“We fought really hard to get back in the game,” Garner said. “We didn’t box out well in the first quarter. We lost coverage on inside-out attacks. In the second quarter, we made defensive adjustments, and we also did a better job executing offensively.”
The third quarter saw the Tigers widening their lead, with Hill and senior forward Summer Parker-Hall both sinking seven points. Heading into the last ten minutes, the Red were down 48-38.
After back-and-forth shooting for the first four minutes, the Red took control, with freshman guard Paige Engels drawing the foul and sophomore guard Clarke Jackson with a jump shot outside the paint. Cornell and Princeton exchanged scores until a minute and a half left on the clock.
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Two three-point attempts from Pape fell short before Toby Nweke drew the foul, missing both shots. Hill secured the rebound and drew another foul to put the Tigers up 60-52.
Inside the 30-second mark, the Red missed three in a row before play returned to Tiger territory, with Tall earning another two foul points for Princeton. Five seconds out, Engels sank a two to end the match 62-54.
Hill’s double-double, with 20 points and 12 rebounds as well as 6 drawn fouls, propelled Princeton to their victory, while sophomore Rachel Kaus took home 16 points and 7 rebounds as Cornell’s top scorer.
The week prior to the game, Engels was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week, the first league honor received by the team this season. Engels led the team in points during matchups against Penn and Brown, and her 10-point fourth-quarter performance against Princeton kept the Red competing until the final buzzer.
“[Engels] is a three-level scorer, and her defense has really ramped up the last few games,” Garner said. “I think she’s only begun to scratch the surface of what she can really do. She’s a hard worker, and that hard work paid off.”
The Red now head back on the road, facing Dartmouth on Jan. 31 and Harvard on Feb. 1. The Big Green and the Crimson are the team’s last unplayed conference foes. Last season, the Red’s 61-47 home victory over Dartmouth was their only Ivy League win of the year.