Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Stanford
Tigers Have Trouble With Cardinal, Lose At Stanford Invitational
November 29, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Nov 30, 2002
Box Score
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - In the absence of All-America and Player of the Year candidate Nicole Powell, Stanford found its rhythm and its offense in a balanced attack and defeated Princeton 95-39 in Friday's nightcap of the Stanford Invitational at Maples Pavilion.
The Cardinal set the tempo early and ran out to a 35-3 lead in the game's first 12 minutes. Senior Allison Cahill scored the next five points and finished the first half with eight points and four rebounds, both team highs. Stanford, however, scored 14 points off 16 Tiger turnovers and led 47-17 at the intermission.
"What we haven't seen before is that kind of athleticism," Princeton coach Richard Barron said. "I told the girls that coming here is like a class field trip. It's like to going to Wall Street if you're in a finance class. We came out here to see how it's done at the highest level." Princeton would improve on its 19 percent shooting in the first half and score 22 second-half points with Cahill posting 10 herself. Senior Maureen Lane finished with nine points and three steals. Princeton struggled to attain any sort of momentum and finished the game 3-for-18 from three-point range and was out-rebounded 62-27 on the night.
Stanford did not struggle, and was led by Azella Perryman, who finished with 18 rebounds and 17 points. It was Perryman's second consecutive double-double, and the fourth of her career. The Cardinal recorded their largest margin of victory since a 58-point win over Sacramento State in 1995.
Katie Denny added a career-high 18 points for Stanford. Clare Bodensteiner had 14, followed by T'Nae Thiel with 12 and Chelsea Trotter with 10.
"I thought we took care of business," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "We established the tone early with our aggressive defense. Katie being healthy allowed us to rest some people. I really liked Azella's rebounding."
Denny, who was out for five weeks with a broken hand, made her debut against the Tigers.
"It was a lot of fun being able to play," she said. "I'm just working to get back into things, so it was nice to stay in there and work some stuff out."
Stanford's No. 7 national ranking was in question after two close wins versus Rutgers and San Francisco, but a convincing win over Princeton sets up tomorrow's championship game with No. 2 Kansas State. The Cardinal is now 3-0 while Princeton falls to 2-2. The Tigers face Temple tomorrow night at Maples Pavilion on Stanford's campus.
Temple lost to Kansas State earlier at Stanford. The Owls are 3-1 heading into Saturday's match-up with the Tigers. The Princeton-Temple consolation game has been moved from a 6 p.m. Pacific Time start to 5:30 p.m. Pacific/8:30 p.m. Eastern time tip.