Princeton University Athletics
Cowher Powered: Family's Perfect Weekend Ends with Ivy Honor
January 16, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 16, 2006
PRINCETON, N.J. - It was a weekend to remember for the Cowher family. Meagan, a sophomore forward for the Princeton women's basketball team, scored 59 points in two games to run the Tigers' win streak to six and keep them in first place in the Ivy League. Her father, Bill, then made national headlines by guiding the underdog Pittsburgh Steelers into the AFC Championship Game with a thrilling 21-18 win over the Indianapolis Colts. The weekend was capped Monday morning when Meagan was named the Ivy League Player of the Week for the second time this season.
Friday night in Manhattan, Meagan led her team to a 78-62 win over Columbia by scoring 32 points, the most by any Princeton player since 1989. Saturday, she was at it again, scoring 27 points in a 94-80 Princeton win over Cornell that lifted the Tigers to 12-4 overall and 3-0 in the Ivy League. Meagan was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year last season and averages 14.9 points and 5.0 rebounds per game this year.
"It's great whenever our team can be recognized," Meagan said. "We had a great weekend and to get this award is a nice bonus. We're excited to be 3-0 and we're going to work on keeping the momentum going when we start again after the finals break."
Princeton has won 12 of its first 16 games for the first time since 1988, the year Meagan turned two and Bill was an assistant coach for the Cleveland Browns. The 3-0 Ivy start is the best at Princeton since 1999.
Meagan watched the Pittsburgh-Indianapolis game in a friend's room at Princeton with other Steeler fans. Like most other viewers, Meagan thought the game was all but over inside of two minutes with the Steelers near the Colts' goal line.
"The last two minutes were a flurry of emotions," Meagan said. "It was so uncharacteristic of our running backs to fumble the ball like that. [After the Colts' missed field goal], they showed the reaction of all the players and I had the same reaction; we were shocked. We were jumping up and down and screaming." Wednesday begins the first semester exam period at Princeton, which extends through Sat., Jan. 28. After 19 days off, the Tigers will take the floor again on Feb. 3 at Yale and Feb. 4 at Brown, the weekend of Super Bowl XL in Detroit, Mich. As successful as the past few days have been for the Cowhers, making the first weekend in February another 3-0 venture would be even more amazing.