PLAINSBORO — The Princeton High varsity girls’ basketball team finally has something to put on the banner in its gymnasium. Players and coaches alike talked about that lonely banner as they celebrated winning their first title, the Colonial Valley Conference Tournament crown, after defeating def ending champ Notre Dame High Saturday at West Windsor-Plainsboro High North. Head coach Beth Fitzpatrick’s fifth-seeded Irish did not make it easy on the second-seeded Tigers before head coach Mary Pat Lelinski’s squad held on for a 57-52 win. Photos: Princeton High vs. Notre Dame in CVC Girls Basketball Tournament final Princeton (19-7), which established a school record for wins when its girls defeated Steinert, 58-52, in overtime Friday (surpassing their 17-9 team of 1994-95), wanted this trophy badly after missing out on a CVC Colonial Division crown (to Ewing) earlier this season. “It’s great for them,” Lelinski said of her players. “I’m the third head coach they’ve had in three years, so this was them. They were hyped this morning, and it carried into the game.” “It’s such a big deal for us,” Tigers’ 5-foot-8 senior guard Anna Winters said. “Even when I was young in elementary and middle school, people knew we had a chance to be good. We saw that empty banner in the corner of the gym and said, ‘We have to put something up there before we’re done.’” Princeton’s Katie Sharkey, 11, follows through on a 3-point shot against Notre Dame during the CVC Tournament girls basketball final on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026 at West Windsor-Plainsboro North High in Plainsboro. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Winters had a lot to do with filling that banner yesterday. She scored 19 of her game-high 25 points in the second half to secure the victory and earn her the Most Valuable Player award. Winters now has 1,533 career points, which has her in the CVC’s Top 25 all time of female scorers. “I really don’t know what happened in the second half,” Winters said. “I hit a 3-pointer, saw the scoreboard, and said to myself, ‘I can do this.’ I felt good. I was playing hard, and we were working together as a team.” After scoring six points in the first half to help the Tigers open leads of 14-9 (after one quarter) and 25-22 (at the break), Winters’ turn really began with a traditional three-point play with 1:35 into the third quarter that stretched her club’s lead to six. Thirty-three seconds later, she hit her first of three treys to push Princeton’s lead to 31-22. But, as was the case all game, ND responded as its 5-9 senior guard Caroline Foley (who led the Irish with 15 points) hit one of her four 3-pointers in the game to help the visitors pull to within, 42-35, by the end of the stanza. Like Winters, Foley had plenty of help. Reese Parker, a 5-8 senior guard/forward, came off the bench to match a career high with 11 points, and Tori Bucchere, 5-9 senior swing, scored 10 points, including six in the fourth quarter as Notre Dame (14-9) twice got the lead down to three points. Winters had scored off a steal with 2:23 to go to make it a 53-43 margin. Yet, when Foley drained a long-range bomb with 22 seconds left, the Irish were within, 55-52. Notre Dame’s Caroline Foley, left, drives to the basket as Princeton’s Chloe Hunt, right, defends during the CVC Tournament girls basketball final on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026 at West Windsor-Plainsboro North High in Plainsboro. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) “We did fight really hard and never gave up,” said Parker, whose team had lost to the Tigers by 30 points in the regular season Jan. 8. “Our offense was important, but I think it was our defense that kept the game close. None of us seniors want this season to be over.” “We knew this Notre Dame team was not going to be the same one we played back in January,” Winters said. “So we needed to play with heart and determination.” Winters was aided by 12 points from 5-9 senior forward Katie Sharkey and 11 points from 5-9 junior guard/forward Chloe Hunt. Sharkey, who is now 21 points from 1,000, scored 10 of her total in the first half. Hunt scored seven of hers in the second half of what proved to be a banner game for everyone on Princeton’s bench. NOTRE DAME (52) Foley 4-3-15, RParker 4-3-11, Hempsell 2-0-4, Bucchere 5-0-10, Hughes 0-0-0, DMeszaros 0-0-0, KWood 2-0-4, Scharibone 3-0-8. Totals — 20-6-52. PRINCETON (57) Winters 9-4-25, Sharkey 4-2-12, Bornstein 0-0-0, Romain 3-2-8, Hunt 5-1-11, Knierim 0-1-1, Cao 0-0-0. Totals — 21-10-57. Notre Dame (14-9)                        9    13    13    17    —    52 Princeton (19-7)                          14    11    17    15    —    57 3-point goals — Foley 4, Scharibone 2 (ND), Winters 3, Sharkey 2 (P). ...read more read less