Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Lehigh
Bolster Leads Princeton Past Lehigh 76-61
November 16, 2001 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 16, 2001
Box Score
Karen Bolster scored 24 points to lead the new-look Princeton women's basketball team to a 76-61 win over Lehigh in the season-opener for both Friday night.
Bolster's 24 points were the most ever by a Princeton women's player in her first game and the second-most ever by any Princeton player, behind only the 27 scored by Bill Bradley in his first game in 1962.
"It was a great start for us," Bolster said. "It wasn't just me. It was the whole team."
Bolster's big game made a winner of Richard Barron in his first game as Princeton head coach. Barron inherited a program that went 2-25 a year ago.
"It was a good performance for us," said Barron, who came to Princeton from the University of the South. "We played good defense, and our offense fed off that. I might not consider it a good performance later in the year, but for the first game, it was what we needed to do." Princeton won its season-opener for the first time since the 1995-96 season and second time since the 1991-92 season. The Tigers lost to Lehigh 64-38 in the season-opener a year ago.
"It was totally different," said senior Lauren Rigney, who had 11 points and six rebounds. "It was different from the time we got into the locker room. We came out on the court fired up, and when we got one steal, we wanted to get another one. When we made one shot, we wanted to make another."
Bolster scored Princeton's first 11 points and had 17 at halftime. She shot 8 for 15 from the field, 7 for 11 from three-point range. Maureen Lane added 13 points, while point guard Mary Cate Opila had 11 points, six rebounds and six assists. Princeton shot 25 for 51 from the field and 10 for 22 from three-point range. While at the South, Barron's teams twice led Division III in three-pointers made per game.
Lehigh was led by Cat Nicholson's 14 points, while Jana Ransom and Anne Tierney had 13 each.
Princeton is at St. Francis (N.Y.) Tuesday night before traveling to Seattle to play in the Husky Classic at the University of Washington after Thanksgiving.