The strategy for beating the Big Green seems simple: don't foul Ashley Taylor. Yet teams cannot keep but sending her to the line, and Taylor has made them pay.
The 5-foot-11 forward tied a school record by making 16 free throws, including 12 in the final two minutes against Yale, to lead Dartmouth to an eight-point win last Friday.
Her dominance may have reached record levels this weekend, but the theme was nothing new.
Four of the six best Ivy free throw performances belong to Taylor. In addition to her 16 on Friday, she has had games with 14, 12, and 11. She has made 137 shots from the charity stripe on the season, by far the most in the Ivies, and her .835 percentage is second only to Claire Perry of Cornell who has attempted just 51 shots.
By comparison, only two Quakers have at least 137 total points on the season.
Taylor now holds the Dartmouth record for most career free throws, and leads all active players in Ivy League scoring.
But "Taytay," as her teammates call her, has not been racking up the personal accomplishments for nought. She has led her team in scoring in 11 of her team's 13 victories, and the Big Green have ridden her hot hand to win six straight.
No change here. It appears the title will go to one of the two winningest schools in league history this year.
Harvard currently sits in first place, two weeks away from its ninth championship and one game ahead of the Big Green, who are searching for their 16th title.
The two schools play each other on March 6 in Cambridge in a game that could determine the champion.
When the schools last met in January, the Crimson stormed back from a 16-point deficit to beat the Big Green, 71-68.
The two teams have combined to go 16-2 since they faced off, and they have distanced themselves from the rest of the field.
A Crimson win at the Palestra on Friday would eliminate the Quakers and the Bulldogs, and ensure that Princeton's best hope would be a share of the title.
Cornell had a chance to control its own destiny. On Saturday, the Big Red held the Quakers scoreless for the final five minutes, but couldn't inbound the ball for a shot in the last seconds. Cornell received a big blow to its chances and now finds itself 2.5 games behind Harvard. While the Big Red can hope for a road sweep of the top two teams during the final weekend, even that could prove to be too little, too late.
Where'd that come from? Columbia won as many conference games this weekend as they did all of last season. They defeated Princeton and Penn for their first Ivy sweep in three years, and the Lions, who started the year 0-6, have now won three of four. That fourth game was winnable, too; Columbia had the ball in the final seconds down by three, but could not get a shot off.
Their recent success can be attributed to their improved offense. They have shot close to 50 percent in their three victories, 10 percent better than their season average.
And the offense has been more diversified as well. Megan Griffith leads the Lions with 13.3 points per game, but not in any of their recent victories. Instead, they have gotten breakout performances from freshmen Chelsea Frazier and Danielle Browne, as well as solid production from Brittney Carfora.
The Lions may be out of contention, but with a final weekend against Dartmouth and Harvard, they certainly will have the chance to play spoiler.
