Princeton University Athletics
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Women's Basketball to Host St. Francis (N.Y.) Saturday Night
December 14, 2006 | Women's Basketball
PRINCETON, N.J. -- Looking to win back-to-back games for the first time this season, the Princeton women's basketball team (4-6) will host St. Francis (N.Y.) (2-7) Saturday at 7 p.m. at Jadwin Gym, following a 4 p.m. men's contest against Marshall.
Last time out: Princeton steadily pushed its lead in the first half against Rider Tuesday night and took a 30-point advantage into the locker room on its way to a 74-45 win. Before missing its last three shots of the half, Princeton shot 70.4 percent through the first 18 minutes of the game, making 19 of its first 27 attempts.
Cowher continues: Junior forward Meagan Cowher reached 20 points for the eighth time in her career with a season-high 21 points against Rider. She made her first six shots and hit all seven free throws in 17 minutes of play.
Approaching, approaching: Cowher moved past 800 points against Rider and stands at 811. She needs only to average 10.5 points per game through Princeton's next 18 contests to become Princeton's 17th 1,000-point scorer by the end of the regular season. Cowher currently averages 16.8 points per game.
All in: For the first time this season, Princeton head coach Richard Barron used all 17 players in Tuesday's game against Rider. In another first, Lauren Cowher made a basket with a minute left in the second half for her first collegiate points. Everyone on the team has now scored at least two points this year.
On the series: Princeton and St. Francis College met for the first time Nov. 20, 2001, in Brooklyn, resulting in an 89-80 win to give Richard Barron his second win as Princeton's head coach. The next season, St. Francis won at Jadwin Gym, 69-64, to square the series at 1-1.
Not to be confused: There are two St. Francis schools in Division I, and both play in the Northeast Conference. While this is the third meeting between Princeton and the Terriers of St. Francis College, Princeton has never faced the Red Flash of St. Francis University in Loretto, Pa.
That's tall: St. Francis junior Katja Bavendam stands 6-8. On WNBA rosters this fall, only Connecticut's Margo Dydek (7-2) was taller and only San Antonio's Katie Feenstra was as tall. Not surprisingly, Bavendam, a native German, is SFC's leading rebounder at 9.2 per game and second-leading scorer at 14.8 points per game. She is ranked in the top 100 in three NCAA statistical categories, including rebounding (59th), field goal percentage (.529, 66th) and blocked shots per game (2.8, 13th).
More Terriers: After a season-opening win over Lafayette, the Terriers have lost seven of eight with a win over Columbia mixed in. Junior guard Tiffany Hill leads the team in scoring at 17.0 points per game, good for 76th in the country, and has hit 15 of the team's 28 three-pointers. SFC and Princeton share four common opponents, including Wagner, NJIT, Columbia and Lafayette.
Steady lineup: For the fourth straight game, Richard Barron and staff used the same starting lineup (M. Cowher-Lockwood-Prichard-Downs-Slemp). That is a change from the five games prior, which saw five different lineups.
The magic number is 70: Princeton is 3-0 when it scores 70 or more points. The Tigers have done so twice in the last three games, against NJIT (75) and Rider (74), as well as against Wagner (70).
Taking care of the basketball: Princeton's main foible this season has been turnovers. While averaging 18 per game last year, Princeton has had only two games with fewer turnovers than that, including 14 against Maine (a loss) and 17 against Rider (a win). Princeton is 2-4 when committing more turnovers than its opponent and 2-2 when it makes fewer giveaways.
Prichard gets going: Junior forward Ali Prichard scored 10 points against Rider, making it the first time in her career she has scored double-digits in three straight games. Prichard also had 11 against NJIT and 12 at Rutgers. She has scored 33 of her 61 points this season in the last three games. Her six rebounds against Rider were also the second-most of her career after eight boards at Columbia last year. Her current five-game stretch of being in the starting lineup is the longest of her career.
Downs and definitely not out: Sophomore forward Whitney Downs has also gained a place in the starting lineup recently, making her current four-game starting streak the longest of her career. Against NJIT, Downs missed matching her career-high point total by only one with 10 points.
More Cowher: Meagan Cowher's current double-digit point streak, which reached 16 games, is the longest of her career. But the junior forward is also doing quite well on the glass, having reset her collegiate best twice in that category already this season. Through 10 games, Cowher has recorded as many double-digit rebound games this season, three, as she had all of last year.
Ivy struggles: Princeton picked up the Ivy League's 15th of 16 wins of the pre-conference schedule with its victory over Rider. Unfortunately for the Ancient Eight, the league's teams have taken on 51 losses through Wednesday for a .239 winning percentage.
Plenty of help: Five Princeton players have more than 20 assists on the season, including Caitlin O'Neill (27), Jessica Berry (27), Meagan Cowher (26), Casey Lockwood (26) and Shelly Slemp (21). Assists are Princeton's highest-ranked statistical category nationally heading into the week as the Tigers ranked 78th in Division I, then with 14.7 assists per game and now up to 15.2.
Looking for No. 3: Princeton head coach Richard Barron has 65 wins at Princeton, making him the fourth-winningest coach in Princeton history. Next up on the list is Liz Feeley, who had 68 wins from 1995-2000. The second coach in Princeton history and the second-winningest coach, Pat Walsh, had 72 wins from 1974-79. Princeton's all-time winningest coach is Joan Kowalik, who won 163 games from 1984-95.
Listen to the game, watch the game: John Sadak will call Saturday night's contest as 23 of Princeton's 28 regular-season games will be available on GoPrincetonTigers.com this season. Hear the broadcast by clicking on the speaker icon on Princeton's women's basketball schedule page or on the “Schedule” tab on the right-side column on the front page. Also found in either location is a link to the video broadcast of the game, included in the Tiger Zone package. All 12 home games will be streamed live on the Web for the first time this season.
“Home visits” continue: Eight of Princeton's 16 players from outside New Jersey will have the chance to play in their home areas this season. Jillian Schurle and Ali Prichard got their chance when the Tigers visited Minnesota, and Ariel Rogers, Elizabeth Pietrzak and Lillie Romeiser did so when Princeton visited Chicago. Next Friday, Meagan and Lauren Cowher will play in Pittsburgh and Whitney Downs will play in Nashville, Dec. 30.
Looking ahead: After winding up a stretch where Princeton will have played four games in 11 days, three at home, the Tigers will have just two games before the new year and will not play at home again until Jan. 13. The four-game road trip will feature a game against a 5-5 Duquesne team that will have had two weeks off to prepare for the Tigers, Princeton's third and final plane trip of the regular season to Vanderbilt, the close of the non-conference season at Lafayette and the start of Ivy play at Penn.