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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Women's Basketball Prepares for Run at Second Straight Ivy Crown
November 01, 2006 | Women's Basketball
If only it were a video game. Then, the Tigers could go right back to the level where they left off, on the doorstep of the NCAA Tournament, and take their next shot.
But it's not a video game. The 21 overall and 12 Ivy League victories only count for last year. This year, Princeton and the rest of the college basketball world starts at 0-0. Last year's record, from the NCAA champion on down, is in the past for everyone. While the team won't be able to regroup right where it left off, the 2006-07 Tigers do have the chance to build on last season's success. The first challenge will be making up for what was lost.
Thousand-point scorers don't come along every day. Becky Brown held down the middle for the Tigers, reaching No. 3 on the all-time school scoring list. She so dominated her matchups last year that she finished third in all of Division I in shooting percentage. The program will have to replace not only her stats but her leadership as well.
Katy O'Brien, who played shooting guard last season and formed a great tandem in the backcourt with Jessica Berry at the point, is the other starter for which Princeton will have to make up this season. O'Brien is one of two players in Princeton history to have two 100-assist seasons.
“In some ways, filling Katy's spot is the easiest for us because we have such great depth at the guard positions. What will be hard to replace is her calming influence on the floor. Because Katy ran the point for us for three years, she really did continue to lead us on the court in her senior year,” head coach Richard Barron says.
To try and recover Brown's and O'Brien's production, the program brings in five new faces and brings back one familiar one. Along with 11 holdovers from last year's team, freshmen Tani Brown, Lauren Cowher, Elizabeth Pietrzak, Jillian Schurle and Cheryl Stevens join the team, as does Katy Digovich, who saw plenty of time in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons before taking last year off from school.
With a roster 17 strong, the competition will be strong for the 200 minutes Barron has to divide each game. That competition is wide open.
“No one on our team has earned a starting position yet,” Barron says.
The Backcourt
With a crowded roster, competition for minutes at the guard positions is as busy as any on the fl oor. Princeton carries eight guards into the new season. While only one, sophomore Berry, has recent starting experience, three of Princeton's four seniors are also guards and have logged plenty of floor time in three years at Old Nassau.
Berry handled the point guard duties deftly last year, compiling a season worthy of All-Ivy Rookie Team honors. Her 147 assists missed tying the school record by only two and were enough to put her in the NCAA's top 25 in assists per game in all of Division I last season with 5.4 per game.
“The point guard position is so critical to any basketball team's success. Jess, despite playing nearly all of last season through injuries, did gain some valuable experience. However, it will be important that at least one other player emerge as a reliable point guard,” Barron says.
Shelly Slemp and Lillie Romeiser, two of those seniors, have played consistently throughout their careers and Elyse Umeda is returning from a torn ligament that ended her junior season in its infancy.
Another sophomore guard who saw time last year and is a candidate for starts this season is Caitlin O'Neill, a hot shooter with size at 5-9.
Three of Princeton's new faces are also guards and were major players at their respective prep programs, including Tani Brown out of Los Angeles, Lauren Cowher from Pittsburgh and Jillian Schurle from outside Minneapolis. Brown was a first-team all-state player in California while Cowher and Schurle were both thousand-point scorers. Schurle was also a fi rst-team all-state player as a senior and averaged 24 points per game while leading her team to a state title.
The Frontcourt
While both six-foot starting forwards return from last season in senior Casey Lockwood and junior First-Team All-Ivy Meagan Cowher, the incumbents won't be running uncontested.
“I certainly see Casey and Meg being major contributors, but we will expect to play many players and use our depth as a weapon,” Barron says. “Singling out any of our players as to what may be expected of them as either starters or in terms of production fails to acknowledge the great potential of our other players.”
After missing big parts of her first two seasons due to injury, Lockwood put together a fine year in 2005-06 and was one of three Tigers to start all 28 games. Adding 7.5 points per game, Lockwood showed her tenacity on defense with a team-best 54 steals. She also pulled down 5.0 rebounds per game, third on
the team.
Cowher put together one of the strongest seasons in program history, well worthy of the All-Ivy status she received. Averaging 14.6 points per contest, Cowher emerged as a threat alongside Becky Brown that, in combination, was too much for most of the Ivy League to counter.
The Tigers have plenty to offer their opponents outside of Lockwood and Cowher as well. Digovich, who returns from a year off, ranked third on the team in scoring in 2004-05 at 8.7 points per game and was the second-leading rebounder with 5.4 per night.
Junior Ali Prichard and sophomore Whitney Downs, each of whom has accrued service time in their careers, return in the frontcourt, and the Tigers bring in two more six-footers in Elizabeth Pietrzak at 6-2 and Cheryl Stevens at 6-3. Pietrzak averaged a double-double during her junior season at St. Ignatius in Chicago and Stevens neared that standard as a senior in Southern California.
The Post
The most obvious question in anyone's mind entering the new season is how Princeton will be able to replace someone who not only scored 1,608 points in her career but provided great leadership during the Tigers' run to the Ivy title last season.
Becky Brown will indeed be difficult to replace, but Barron's team has the personnel to collectively make up her contributions in the box score.
The abundance of height Princeton has at the forward position will certainly help the team in the post. Expect Meagan Cowher, Pietrzak, Stevens, Ariel Rogers and Julia Berger to log minutes under the basket.
Rogers has been a regular contributor during her two years on the team, playing in 26 games last season and adding 5.2 points per contest. Berger spelled Becky
Brown during 22 games in Berger's first season, experience that will be valuable this year.
With Princeton's top scorer from last season gone, it might appear that trying to shut down the leading returner from a year ago, Meagan Cowher, would be good strategy. Barron says teams with that idea should think again.
“Meg is a scoring threat, but she is not the main scoring threat. Everyone on the floor will have to be defended. And we will have great depth to continue to run fresh players into the game. Any team that focuses solely on stopping Meg or any other single player will be making a big mistake,” the coach says.
The Schedule
Plenty of challenges loom on Princeton's 2006-07 slate, well beyond teams from the power conferences like Vanderbilt, Minnesota, Rutgers and Northwestern.
“We certainly have a challenging schedule. Saint Joseph's, Duquesne, Middle Tennessee State or Maine and Cincinnati will all be tough tests,” Barron says. “We hope to come through our non-league schedule with a real sense of who we are and what we do well. If we do that, we should be ready to challenge again for the league title.” In any conference, the league schedule is always a grind. But before the Tigers even get that far, the non-league agenda is challenging in its own right.
After opening the season Nov. 11 against Wagner at Jadwin Gym, the team will head for the first of two tournaments in the midwest. The Tigers open with Minnesota, the first of four NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago on the docket. The following day, Princeton will face either Middle Tennessee State or Maine.
After post-Thanksgiving tilts with Lehigh and Saint Joseph's, both of whom were on Princeton's schedule last year, the Tigers will go west again for Northwestern's tournament. The Orange and Black will open with the host Wildcats before meeting either Cincinnati or Northern Illinois.
Through most of December, Princeton will stay local for NJIT, Rider and the second NCAA team from 2006, Rutgers, which the Tigers gave a scare last season. After heading for Duquesne Dec. 22, Princeton will face NCAA team number three, Vanderbilt, in Nashville. After opening 2007 at Lafayette January 3, the Tigers will begin the familiar two-month, 14-game Ivy run three days later at Penn.
“Winning is positive reinforcement,” Barron says as the Tigers gear up to make another run at the Ivy crown. “Success clearly is something that once tasted, is coveted again. However, there are challenges to handling success as well and we must make sure that we never underestimate our opponent's desire to win nor the effort required for us to reach our goals."