Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Women's Basketball Visits Minnesota for Two-Game Tourney This Weekend
November 15, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Homecoming: As is Princeton's scheduling custom, two Tigers will get to play in their home areas this weekend. Rookie Jillian Schurle and junior Ali Prichard are both Twin Cities-area natives.
Double-double: Junior Ariel Rogers contributed nicely in Princeton's 70-52 season-opening win over Wagner last weekend, earning her first-career double-double with 16 points, tying a career high, and 11 rebounds, bettering her previous best by three.
Tough opponents: It will be no small task to return from Minnesota victorious, as the weekend's field is stacked with solid teams. The host Golden Gophers have advanced to five straight NCAA Tournaments, while Middle Tennessee State has been to three in a row and returns preseason Sun Belt Player of the Year Chrissy Givens. Maine routed William and Mary in its opener by 20 points.
Count on Cowher: It was no secret to Princeton's opponents coming into the year that junior forward Meagan Cowher would be a go-to scorer. Even with the extra attention, Cowher scored 11 points against Wagner to continue a double-digit scoring streak to seven games.
A new scheme: When you have a thousand-point scorer on your roster, it's an easy choice to lean on her for offense. But with the graduation of center Becky Brown '06 and her 1,608 career points, the Tigers have opted to go for a new, more open system on offense this season. So far, so good as the Tigers topped Wagner by 18 to open the season.
Preseason favorites: Many teams would rather play “under the radar” than have expectations foisted upon them. The Tigers won't have that choice as the Ivy League's preseason poll was released Tuesday with Princeton receiving 10 of 16 first-place votes with two media members from each school's market filling out a ballot. Dartmouth, which won a three-way playoff last year, was selected second with five first place votes.
Goin' dancin'?: Princeton has won seven Ivy League titles but hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament yet. In just about every case, time hasn't been on the Tigers' side. Five of those Ivy titles (1975, 76, 77, 78, 85) came before the Ivy League had its automatic NCAA bid in 1994. The two since then (1999, 2006) have come with Princeton tying Dartmouth atop the regular-season standings. Both times, Dartmouth beat Princeton in a playoff to earn the postseason bid.
Series histories: Princeton has never met Middle Tennessee State or Maine and has played Minnesota only once -- 26 years ago. As part of the Princeton Christmas Tournament in 1980, Minnesota came to Old Nassau and defeated the Tigers by eight. Princeton defeated Wake Forest, 72-71, in the same tournament.
Strength in numbers: Princeton's roster is tied for the largest in the Ivy League at 17 players. Only Columbia has as many listed heading into the opening game. Dartmouth, which earned the league's bid to the NCAA Tournament last year, has the smallest with 10 players. However, the Tigers will only be able to travel 15 players.
Listen to the game: This weekend's games will not be heard on goprincetontigers.com, but Minnesota is broadcasting Saturday's game on a local station that can be heard on the Web. Visit http://www.jazz88fm.com and click on Listen to hear the Tigers and Golden Gophers at 4 p.m. ET Saturday.
On the Gophers: Minnesota was picked to finish eighth in the Big Ten by the conference's coaches and ninth by the league's media at the start of the season. The reason for the lower-division prediction is that the Golden Gophers lost all five starters from a year ago. Senior guard Kelly Roysland, who averaged 8.9 points per game while starting nine of 29 games last year, is the only Gopher returner who averaged more than three points per game last season. Minnesota started the season with wins over Northern Iowa, 75-63, and Charlotte, 78-66.
On the Blue Raiders: Middle Tennessee State has advanced to three straight NCAA Tournaments and is expected to finish first in the Sun Belt's East Division, according to the preseason coaches' poll. The conference's mentors also selected senior guard Chrissy Givens as the preseason Player of the Year. Defending national champion Maryland came to MTSU to start the season and left with just a four-point win last Friday night, but the Blue Raiders followed up the near-upset with a 72-61 loss to South Dakota State at home Monday. Not Givens, but junior guard Amber Holt has been MTSU's top scorer in both games, scoring 28 against the Terps and 19 with 10 rebounds against the Jackrabbits. One stat that leaps off the agate is the difference in shooting percentage between the Blue Raiders and their opponents. Maryland and South Dakota State have combined to hit 58.8 percent of their shots, while MTSU is hitting at only 36.5 percent.
On the Black Bears: Senior forward Bracey Barker scored 16 points to lead Maine in the team's only game so far, a 66-46 win over William and Mary. That earned Barker America East Co-Player of the Week honors. Maine was selected to finish seventh of the conference's nine teams in the preseason coaches' poll.
Local knowledge: At least one Minnesota player will be seeing a very familiar name on the opposition's jersey Friday. Korinne Campbell, a Minnesota freshman, is from nearby Lawrenceville, N.J., and went to Notre Dame High School in that town.
Tennessee theme: Princeton has had its fair share of the Volunteer State, home of head coach Richard Barron, in the past couple years. After traveling to Knoxville to face the Lady Vols a year ago, Princeton could take on Middle Tennessee State this weekend and will visit Vanderbilt Dec. 29.
New role: Sophomore Caitlin O'Neill earned the first start of her career Saturday against Wagner and played 33 minutes. Her previous high was 26 minutes, and she also bettered her single-game point total by one to seven points.
Apple Valley abound: One of Princeton's Minnesota natives, junior forward Ali Prichard, will have an Apple Valley compatriot in the event and possibly as a foe this weekend. Maine junior Lindsey Hugstad-Vaa is also from the southern Twin Cities suburb.
Say hello to the fam: Just as Jillian Schurle and Ali Prichard will be able to do this week, nine of the 17 players on Princeton's roster will be able to play in their home states this year. Aside from New Jersey native Julia Berger, three Illinoisans (Elizabeth Pietrzak, Lillie Romeiser, Ariel Rogers) will do so Dec. 1-2 at Northwestern while Lauren and Meagan Cowher will play in Pittsburgh Dec. 22 at Duquesne and Whitney Downs will face Vanderbilt in Nashville Dec. 30.
Return trip: This will be the program's second trip to Minnesota after having started the 1995-96 season at the Dial Classic in Minneapolis against Northern Illinois and Siena, both wins. Princeton has played women's basketball in 29 states and the District of Columbia.
Princeton versus the Big Ten: Princeton is 2-7 all-time against schools currently in the Big Ten, but 0-4 since the Big Ten began sponsoring women's hoops in 1981-82. The two wins were over Indiana (1978-79 season) and Penn State (1972-73). This will be Princeton's first game against a Big Ten opponent since it played Northwestern, a team it will face in two weeks, during the 1999-2000 season.