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Princeton University
Lehigh
Players Mentioned
Cowher Double-Doubles Again as Women's Hoops Tops Lehigh, 56-49
November 24, 2006 | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Meagan Cowher scored a season-high 20 points and her second straight double-double with a career-best 14 rebounds as the Princeton women's basketball team knocked off Lehigh, 56-49, Friday night at the Mountain Hawks' Stabler Arena.
Princeton led nearly wire-to-wire thanks to winning decisively in the battle on the glass, outrebounding Lehigh 50-32, and by shooting 42.4 percent for the game including 46.4 in the second half. Lehigh hit 21 of 62 shots (33.9 percent) on the night and was unable to take advantage of 23 Tiger turnovers.
Cowher, the 2005 Ivy League Rookie of the Year and a First-Team All-Ivy player a year ago, has started her junior season in similar fashion with 18 points in each of the last two games after 11 in the opener. Princeton's Casey Lockwood, with 15 points, and Lehigh season-leader Adrienne Blount, with 18 points, were the only other players in double-figures.
The win moved Princeton to 2-2 on the young season and broke the mini-skid the Tigers suffered in Minnesota, falling in both games of last weekend's tournament to the host Golden Gophers and Maine. Lehigh, which came in riding the momentum of a seven-point win over Syracuse, dropped to 2-2. The Mountain Hawks' previous loss was by one-point to one of Princeton's Ivy rivals, Penn.
Princeton went ahead of Lehigh four minutes into the game and held the advantage from there. Breaking a 6-6 tie with 15:57 left in the opening period, buckets from Cowher, Lockwood and Ali Prichard over the next four minutes gave the Tigers a six-point lead while Lehigh went scoreless.
But the first half wasn't without its tight moments. Princeton stood at 18 from the 9:57 mark, when an and-one free throw by Cowher put the Tigers ahead 18-10, until 6:18 remained in the period when Caitlin O'Neill hit a three to double Princeton's lead to 21-15.
Still, Lehigh nearly eclipsed the lead by pulling to within 21-20 just over a minute later on an Alex Ross three-pointer. But Ross' attempt to take the lead with a three on the Mountain Hawks' next possession failed and Princeton went on to take a 28-23 lead into the break.
Princeton's rebounding advantage was evident early as the Tigers took a 27-15 edge in the category into the break. Cowher led Princeton with eight boards and 10 points in the opening 20 minutes.
After Lehigh scored the first four points after the break, Princeton went on an 8-0 run to open up a 36-27 lead on four of Whitney Downs' five points, plus baskets from Cowher and Ariel Rogers.
The closest Lehigh came in the second half was on a three by Alex Ross with 11:10 left that brought the home squad to within 39-36, but Lockwood answered right back with her own three and Princeton never let Lehigh cut it to a one-possession game again. The Tigers' largest lead was 11 on two occasions late in the second half.
The Tigers will play their lone home game in a five-of-six road stretch Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Saint Joseph's before heading to Evanston, Ill., next weekend.