Lauren Edwards scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half to lead Princeton past Harvard 68-59 on Saturday, clinching the Tigers' second consecutive Ivy League title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Edwards made three of her five 3-point attempts in the second half and finished with eight rebounds for Princeton (22-4), which concludes its regular season Tuesday at Pennsylvania. Krystal Hill added 13 points and five rebounds, and Devona Allgood had 12 points and 10 rebounds against Harvard (17-10).
''Harvard was in our gym playing for an Ivy championship, so we needed to come to play,'' Edwards said. ''And we did.''
It's the fifth Ivy League championship for Princeton, which lost to St. John's as the No. 12 seed in last year's NCAA tournament.
''I hope I can do a good job of teaching the younger kids that this doesn't happen very often, because it really doesn't,'' Princeton coach Courtney Banghart said.
Princeton improved to 14-1 since losing leading scorer and rebounder Niveen Rasheed for the season with a torn knee ligament Dec. 29 against Davidson Dec. 29. The only loss was a 73-67 setback at Harvard on Feb. 4.
''What these kids have done and the consistency they have shown, especially with all the adversity and everyone stepping up at different times, you can't put words to this journey and I just hope they appreciate it.''
Harvard missed 14 of its first 20 shots, but tied it at 23 in the first half on a 3-pointer by Brogan Berry.
Princeton opened up a 38-29 lead early in the second half, but Harvard moved within a point at 40-39 with 15:46 remaining. Princeton's Kate Miller immediately answered with a 3-pointer and the Tigers never trailed again.
''It's rare in the Ivy League to win one Ivy League title outright,'' senior Addie Micir said. ''To do it back-to-back makes this a really special night. From where Krystal and I started as freshmen to have a year like last year, then a year like this year to finish it off is just amazing. I could not have asked for anything more.''
