ICYMI: First Ivy League tourney was a success

By AP
Published

PHILADELPHIA (AP) The inaugural Ivy League Tournament is in the books and the conference couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

There were competitive games on the men's and women's side, great crowds and the No. 1 seeds won with the Princeton men and Penn women coming out victorious..

''It was an amazing weekend,'' said executive director of the Ivy League Robin Harris. ''I had high expectations and it exceeded them. The atmosphere, the crowds, the excitement, the way the games went. The quality of play of our teams. We had intense competitive games.''

The Penn women's team beat rival Princeton on Sunday at the Palestra, cutting down the nets at home for the second time this past week.

''I can't put it into words,'' Quakers senior Sydney Stipanovich said. ''I couldn't ask for anything more as the last four years have been amazing. I couldn't ask for better way to end my senior year.''

Penn will find out who it's playing in the NCAA Tournament on Monday night. The Quakers lost to Washington last season. But with most of the team returning from that defeat, Penn is hopeful it can get the program's first NCAA win.

''One big thing that helps our team is that coach stresses no game is bigger than the next,'' Stipanovich said. ''Take one game at a time. Go in there as strong ever.''

Harris said that the Ivy League will get feedback on the tournament and hopefully have a decision in May when the conference athletic directors meet.

Other things that happened this week:

USA COACH: South Carolina's Dawn Staley was announced as the new coach of the U.S. national team. Staley won three Olympic gold medals as a player for the U.S. and also served as an assistant coach in 2008 and 2016. She was introduced at a press conference on Friday.

POLL WATCH: The final AP Top 25 poll of the season comes out Monday and with most of the ranked teams having the week off, there won't be too much change from last week . UConn will finish the season at No. 1 for the 14th time in school history.

NOT RETURNING: With the ending of some teams' seasons, it's time for the coaching carousel to begin. Cynthia Cooper-Dyke is out at Southern Cal , Amanda Butler is gone from Florida and Jimmy Dyke resigned from Arkansas , to name a few. All three were coaching at their Alma maters.

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