Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Women's Basketball to Host Saint Joseph's Wednesday
November 26, 2006 | Women's Basketball
If you can't attend the game, watch it streamed LIVE at GoPrincetonTigers.com in the TigerZone. Click here to watch.
Cowher rolling: Princeton junior forward Meagan Cowher is on quite a scoring streak, dropping in 20 in the Tigers' 56-49 win over Lehigh Friday night. Her career-high 14 rebounds gave her a double-double in back-to-back games as the Tigers led the Mountain Hawks nearly wire-to-wire.
Taming the Tigers: Princeton is 0-7 all-time against Saint Joseph's. However, six of those meetings came in the 1970s and early '80s before the Hawks topped Princeton, 58-46, last year in Philadelphia to open the season.
Princeton vs. St. Joseph's
All-Time: SJU leads 7-0
1975-76 Away L, 41-82
1976-77 Home L, 42-71
1977-78 Away L, 56-81
1978-79 Home L, 61-88
1981-82 Home L, 67-75
1982-83 Away L, 63-84
2005-06 Away L, 46-58
Quick stop home: Wednesday's game is Princeton's only home game amid a six-game stretch from two weekends ago through this weekend, when the Tigers will head to Northwestern for a pair of contests.
Tigers enjoying their den: Princeton is on a six-game winning streak at Jadwin Gym, counting the last five home games of last year (all Ivy contests), plus this year's season opener against Wagner.
Keep the turnovers in the bakery: Princeton has both survived and been hurt by turnovers on the young season. The Tigers are averaging 23.5 turnovers per game so far this year with a high of 30 against a pressuring Minnesota team. Last year, Princeton averaged 18.2 turnovers per game in its Ivy-title season.
Now boarding: Last time out against Lehigh, the Tigers outrebounded the Mountain Hawks 50-32, upping the team's average to 43.2 boards per game. Princeton last had 50 rebounds last year against FDU, when it had 52.
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 had 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.
Cowher's double-doubles: Meagan Cowher's back-to-back double-doubles are the first time she has achieved the statistical standard in her collegiate career. She had 20 points and 14 rebounds against Lehigh and 18 points and 13 boards against Maine. She has had five double-doubles in her career, with two as a freshman, including her collegiate debut, and three last year.
Cowher's 20-point games
32 at Columbia, 2005-06 (W)
28 at St. Peter's, 2004-05 (W)
27 at Cornell, 2005-06 (W)
25 vs. UCF, 2005-06 (W)
22 vs. Dartmouth, 2005-06 (L)
20 at Lehigh, 2006-07 (W)
20 vs. Penn, 2005-06 (W)
20 at Mt. St. Mary's, 2005-06 (W)
More Cowher: Meagan Cowher has scored 10 or more points in 10 straight games, the longest streak in her career, bettering the seven-game double-digit streak she had her rookie season. Her teammate for two seasons, Becky Brown, ended her career last year with 19 straight double-digit games while becoming Princeton's third-leading all-time scorer.
Favorite number?: She wears it on her jersey, and 20 has also been a significant number during Meagan Cowher's time at Princeton. Friday's game at Lehigh was the eighth time Cowher has scored at least 20 points with a career-high of 32 at Columbia last year. Princeton is 6-1 when she hits the 20-point mark.
Cowher on the glass: Meagan Cowher's 14 rebounds at Lehigh were a career-high, just a game after she set another career-best with 13 boards against Maine. She has seven 10-or-more rebound games.
Listen to the game: Derek Jones returns to call Princeton's game against the Hawks after making his season debut at Lehigh last weekend. The broadcast can be heard at www.goprincetontigers.com by finding the speaker link on the women's basketball schedule page.
On the Hawks: Saint Joseph's enters Wednesday's game with a 1-3 record and on a three-game losing streak after starting the season with a win over Bucknell. However, those three losses were to Hartford (4-2), Virginia Commonwealth (5-0) and Illinois (5-1), teams with a combined record of 14-3. Ayanha Cornish (10.3) and Whitney Ffrench (11.0) lead SJU in scoring, but the Hawks are struggling on the defensive end with teams shooting .439 against. SJU has an advantage over its foes thus far on the glass (+0.8 boards per game), turnovers (+2.0 margin) and steals (+2.2 margin).
Last time against SJU: Turnovers and cold shooting hurt Princeton in a 12-point loss to Saint Joseph's to open the season last year. The Tigers had 22 giveaways to 15 for SJU and were outshot 37.0 percent to 31.8 percent. Ayanha Cornish led SJU with 16 points and Whitney Ffrench had 10 while Becky Brown had 15 and Jessica Berry 10 points in her collegiate debut for Princeton. Both Hawks are back this season as senior guards, while Princeton lost Becky Brown to graduation.
Countdown to 1,000: Meagan Cowher's recent scoring run has moved her career total to 710 points. She needs to average 12 points per game over Princeton's final 24 contests to become the program's 17th 1,000-point scorer during the regular season.
Going international: While most of Saint Joseph's roster is from the Philadelphia and the Mid-Atlantic, the Hawks carry two international players, including senior guard Whitney Ffrench from Nova Scotia, Canada, and senior post Zoya Pavlovskaya from Russia. Princeton has no international players, but the 17 Tigers hail from nine states.
Filling in nicely: After losing center Becky Brown and shooting guard Katy O'Brien to graduation after last season, Princeton has filled those roles with junior Ariel Rogers near the hoop and sophomore Caitlin O'Neill outside. Also new this season is a more wide-open offensive scheme after relying significantly on Brown, who ended her career with 1,608 points, last season. The starting five seems to be set for now, with Meagan Cowher, Casey Lockwood, Jessica Berry, O'Neill and Rogers all averaging more than 20 minutes per game and no other Tiger averaging more than 12.
Rough on the Ivy: Only one Ivy team is above .500 heading into Wednesday as Penn is at 2-1 before facing a tough Delaware team while the Tigers are tangling with the Hawks. The league's combined record through the past weekend is 7-30.
Barron closes in on No. 3: Princeton head coach Richard Barron has won 63 games in his five-plus seasons at Princeton, making him the fourth-winningest coach in program history. Liz Feeley (1995-2000) has 68 wins, good for third place, while Pat Walsh (1974-79) has 72 and all-time leader Joan Kowalik (1984-95) has 163.
Berry warming up: Adjusting to a new offense is a challenge for any point guard, but Jessica Berry has been coming along in recent games. After having one assist in each of her first two games, she had five against Maine and four at Lehigh. Berry, an All-Ivy Rookie Team player last year, had 147 assists and finished 23rd in Division I with 5.4 helpers per game a year ago. The school record for assists in a season is 149 by Andrea Razi in 1994-95.
Lockwood locks in: Senior forward Casey Lockwood has had three double-digit scoring games in her four appearances this season including a career-high 21 points against Maine. That bettered the 20 points she scored in her collegiate debut three years ago at Nebraska.