Abby Meyers set a career-high with 29 points to lead No. 11-seed Princeton to its second-ever women's NCAA Tournament win with a 69-62 victory over sixth-seeded Kentucky on Saturday.
The Tigers (25-4) have won 18 straight games and never trailed after the first quarter. They led by as many as nine points three times in the fourth quarter. However, it was a grueling battle to knock off the Wildcats (19-12), who entered the tournament winners of 10 straight – and the last three against teams ranked in the AP Top 25.
This was Princeton's first trip to the NCAA since 2019 after the 2020 tournament was canceled by the coronavirus pandemic and the Ivy League opted not to play sports last year. The Tigers won their other NCAA game in 2015 when they were undefeated heading to the tournament. They lost to Maryland in the second round that year.
Princeton shot 60% in the first half. That helped offset 12 turnovers in the first 20 minutes. The Tigers held on despite missing seven of their last eight shots and going without a bucket for the final 4:37.
It was a struggle for both teams to put the ball in the basket. Kentucky also missed seven of its last eight shots and went without one over the last 4:04.
Three-time All-American Rhyne Howard led Kentucky with 17 points. However, she struggled, going 4-for-14 from the floor. She also only scored three in the first half, and that was on a 3-pointer at the end of the half to make it a 32-26 game at halftime.
Dre’una Edwards added 16 points and 12 rebounds, but the redshirt junior made just 6-of-15 shots. Kentucky shot just 35.7%
Kaitlyn Chen added 17 points in the win for the Tigers. The last time Princeton won a tournament game came in 2015 when the Tigers beat Wisconsin-Green Bay 80-70.
The Tigers will stick around Bloomington for a couple more days. They’ll face Indiana in a second-round matchup on Monday in hopes of claiming their first berth to the Sweet 16.
Thursday night, the #2 seed Kentucky men's team lost in overtime shocker to #15 seed St. Peter's Peacocks.