Princeton University Athletics
Women's Basketball Travels To Vanderbilt This Weekend
November 24, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 24, 2003
PRINCETON, N.J. - The women's basketball team travels to Nashville, Tenn. this weekend for the Vanderbilt University Tournament, featuring Louisville and Samford as well as the host Commodores. The Tigers, who are 0-1 after dropping their season-opener to Nebraska, begin the tournament on Friday, Nov. 28 with a 5 p.m. (ET) game against Louisville.
The Cardinals are 1-1 this season with a 72-64 loss to Xavier and an 81-70 win over IPFW. The winner of the Princeton-Louisville game plays the winner of Vanderbilt-Samford at 4 p.m. on Saturday while the losers meet for the consolation game at 2 p.m.
Vanderbilt is favored to win the tournament after building a 2-0 record and winning the Banknorth Classic Tournament at Vermont last weekend. The Commodores are ranked fourth in the preseason SEC poll, receiving 186 points and one first-place vote behind Tennessee, LSU and Georgia. Vanderbilt hasn't cracked the Top 25 nationally but is receiving votes.
Leading Vanderbilt is senior Jenni Benningfield, who played on the 2003 USA Women's Pan American Team. She was a 2002-03 All-American honorable mention, second-team All-SEC, and she averaged 16.5 PPG and a team-high 7.9 RPG. This year, Benningfield is a preseason candidate for first-team All-SEC, the Wooden Award, the Wade Trophy and one of eight from the SEC for the Naismith Player of the Year Award. But to potentially meet the Commodores, the Tigers must first get past Louisville, who returns six letterwinners including three starters from last year's team. The 2002-03 Cardinals finished 15-14 overall and 5-9 and in 11th place in Conference USA, which has at least six teams that will move around the Top 25 this year including TCU, Depaul and Cincinnati.
After a competitive and well-played season-opener against the Big 12's Nebraska, Princeton appears ready for the challenge.
Game Notes
Where They're At - Princeton is 0-1 after a 75-61 loss to Nebraska in its season-opener last Sunday. The Tigers led three times in the first half and tied the score once, at 20-20 with 10:40 remaining on the clock.
The Turning Point - The Huskers went on a 13-0 run from the 9:30 mark until Digovich scored with 3:40 to go in the half.
Young Guns - The Tigers started three freshmen and two sophomores, and had five freshmen on the court on several occasions.
What a Debut! - Freshman Casey Lockwood led all scorers with 20 points on 9-for-16 shooting. She went 2 for 3 on her three-pointers, pulled down eight rebounds and added two steals.
Best All-Around - Sophomore Katy O'Brien had 13 points, eight rebounds and five steals, and shot 5 for 10 from the field and 3 for 5 behind the arc.
They've Got Range - Princeton shot 37 percent behind the arc off 7-for-11 shooting, including 5-for-7 shooting in the second half. Nebraska shot just 20 percent from three-point range.
The Charity Stripe - The Tigers shot 75 percent from the free-throw line, making six of their eight attempts.
Dig This - Katy Digovich scored 12 points in her collegiate debut and added six rebounds (five defensive). She shot 2 for 2 from the three-point line and 4 for 4 from the foul line.
Twin Towers - Sophomore Becky Brown and senior Maureen McCracken split time at center and combined for 12 points. McCracken added three assists.
Clearing the Bench - Twelve different Tigers earned playing time against Nebraska.
Defensive Effort - The Tigers held Nebraska to 75 points, which is 24 points below the Huskers' scoring average for its exhibition and regular-season games this season.
On the Boards - Nebraska, who out-rebounded Wofford 60-26 in its opening game, had just five more rebounds than Princeton.
Gotta Make Layups - During Nebraska's run, Princeton missed seven layups, accounting for 14 points and the exact margin that the Tigers lost by. The Competition - Princeton next faces Louisville (1-1) and either Samford (1-0) or Vanderbilt (2-0). The tournament favorite is host Vanderbilt, who received votes in the latest Top 25 national poll.
Scoring and Dishing - Louisville senior point guard Sara Nord is a three-time first-team All-Conference USA selection. She scored 14 points per game last season and led the team in assists.
Perimeter Play - Louisville's returning starters are all guards - Kim Graham, Angel Bradley and Nina Simotes - which means the Cardinals can score on transition.
Post Problems - The Cardinals lack experience in the post after transfer Tatjana Kiseljova tore her ACL in the preseason. The only true posts are freshmen centers Jazz Covington and Jenna Lemnus.
Commodore News - Last weekend, Vanderbilt won the Banknorth Classic in Burlington, Vt. by defeating South Alabama 64-62 in OT and Vermont 65-54.
Earley Success - Ashley Earley had a double-double of 17 points and 18 rebounds against South Alabama and scored 15 points against Vermont to earn MVP of the tournament.
Scoring Veterans - Samford returns four starters and 79 percent of the team's scoring from last year. The Bulldogs are 1-0 with a win over Alcorn State.
Super Sub - Sixth-man Alex Munday had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Upward Bound - Princeton has a combined 20 wins in the past two seasons after finishing just 2-25 overall in 2000-01.
Returning Strengths - Although Princeton has six newcomers composing its 13-deep roster, it returns its leading scorer, leading rebounder, two leaders in blocks, top three-point shooter and top two shooters in terms of field goal percentage.
B.B. King - Becky Brown was the royal leader last season, when she averaged team-highs in scoring (14.9 PPG) and rebounding (6.2 RPG) and had four double-doubles.
Back to the Arc - Junior Karen Bolster led the Tigers in three-point field goal percentage, shooting 45 for 109 (.419).
The New Crew - This year's freshmen class is the most highly-touted in years with 6-0 forward Katy Digovich leading the crew. She had 1,960 points and 1,028 rebounds in high school and was an honorable mention McDonald's All-American.
More Mickey-D's - Freshman wing Casey Lockwood was also a McDonald's All-American candidate at Marin Catholic, where she set the school record for scoring in a season.
Quick Dishes - Freshman Shelly Slemp will do the serving and dishing for Princeton. She was the three-time leader in steals and assists at Marion Senior, where she was also a track star.
Freshmen Five? - Head coach Richard Barron says it is possible for five freshmen to be in the starting lineup at some point this season. Rounding out the lineup would be Elyse Umeda, a four-year high school starter from Hawaii, and Kelli Hughes, a 6-2 swing player from New Albany, Ohio.
Breaking Even - Princeton's all-time record is just over .500. In 32 seasons, the Tigers accumulated a 388-386 mark.
Home for the Holidays - Princeton's home-opener at Jadwin Gymnasium is against Lehigh on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. The Tigers will be home three more times before the new year.
New Faces - Princeton faces five opponents it has never played before throughout its 32-year history - Georgia Tech, Louisville, Samford, Memphis and Idaho.
Spanning the Country - This season's Tigers meet opponents from 11 different conferences including the SEC, ACC and Big 12.
Must-Wins - The Tigers have winning streaks against four of their opponents this year - Yale, who they defeated twice last season, Colgate, Hofstra and Lafayette. With a stronger schedule than the past, Princeton sees these games as must-wins.
Click below for complete release, including game notes.
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader