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Princeton University
Columbia
Players Mentioned
Cowher Scores Career-High 32 as Princeton Women's Basketball Tops Columbia, 78-62
January 13, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2006
Box Score
NEW YORK - The historical notes just keep on coming for the Princeton women's basketball team in the 2005-06 season. On Friday at Columbia's Levien Gym, sophomore Meagan Cowher dropped in a career-high 32 points, the most since Sandi Bittler's 35 against Rider in 1989, to lead Princeton (11-4, 2-0 Ivy) to a 78-62 win over the Lions (4-9, 0-1). The team has won 11 of its first 15 for the first time since 1988.
Cowher went 14 for 23 from the field to led all scorers and had 22 of her points in the first half. Three other Tigers were in double-figures with senior Becky Brown scoring 13, fellow senior Katy O'Brien 11 and sophomore Ali Prichard with a season-high 10. All three players also had a game-high eight rebounds as the Tigers outrebounded their hosts 47-30. The Tigers shot 47.7 percent for the game to 41.0 percent for Columbia.
Princeton had not won at Columbia's gym since 2000, snapping a five-game losing skid at the arena. The streak-breaking win comes six days after the Tigers broke a three-game losing streak at Penn's Palestra, picking up their first victory there since 2002.
With Princeton ahead 12-11 just under five minutes into the first half, Columbia went on a 13-0 run to take a 24-12 lead. Sophomore Ali Prichard ended the three-and-a-half minute scoring drought, which started Princeton on a 15-0 run of its own. Columbia went without a point for over five minutes during the run before Megan Griffith's three-pointer with just over six minutes to go in the half tied the game at 27-27. But the Tigers would surge ahead again, capped by an O'Brien three-pointer with time running out in the half that put the Tigers up by eight, 43-35. Cowher, in her 22-point half, scored four of Princeton's first six buckets en route to the 12-11 lead. Prichard scored seven of her points during the Tigers' 15-0 run to reclaim the lead before Cowher resumed her outstanding performance. With Princeton behind by three at 24-21, Cowher scored Princeton's next seven points and 13 of its last 21 to end the period.
The Lions made 11 of their first 16 shots (68.8 percent) while taking the 12-point lead but made only four of 12 for the rest of the half. Princeton outshot Columbia for the half, 56.7 percent to 53.6 percent, while outrebounding the Lions 20-10.
Columbia cut the lead to four at 46-42 just over two minutes into the half and again had it to five at 52-47 three minutes later but got no closer. The Tigers kept pushing their advantage forward, getting a lead as high as 22 at 78-56 with 3:07 remaining on a pair of Ali Smith free throws.
Princeton heads to Ithaca, N.Y. to face Cornell at 7 p.m. in the team's last game before the finals break.