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Princeton University
Cincinnati
Players Mentioned
Princeton Miscues Hold Back Tigers in 66-55 Women's Hoops Loss to Cincinnati
December 02, 2006 | Women's Basketball
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Cincinnati didn't run away with the lead until the game's last five minutes Saturday at Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena, but the Princeton women's basketball team hurt its own chances with 21 turnovers against the Bearcats in a 66-55 loss.
Cincinnati (6-1) scored 24 points off Princeton's mistakes, a number much bigger than the 11-point margin in the score. UC had nine fewer turnovers.
Meagan Cowher led Princeton (2-5) with 18 points while Casey Lockwood added 14 and Caitlin O'Neill scored a career-high 13. Treasure Humphries led Cincinnati with 25, as Shelly Bellman (14) and Angel Morgan (10) were also in double-figures.
Though Princeton shot 50 percent for the game, making 24 of 48 from the field, the turnovers and a 37-26 rebounding deficit added to Cincinnati's solid 45.2 shooting clip as the Bearcats hit 28 of 62 shots.
The visitors from the Queen City made six of their first 10 shots to take a 14-7 lead with 13:28 to go before halftime. The Tigers spent the rest of the game trying to recover.
Princeton pulled to within one at 21-20 with 8:53 left in the half as O'Neill and Whitney Downs, making her first start of the year, combined to score the team's next 13 points over four and a half minutes.
But Princeton's lately familiar thorn returned as the Tigers committed seven turnovers over the period's last nine minutes and scored no points for five-plus minutes while the Bearcats went ahead by as many as 12. O'Neill and Casey Lockwood contributed buckets in the half's last 75 seconds to bring the deficit back to single-digits.
Princeton's first run of the second half began when the Tigers were down 38-30 with six minutes gone in the period. Cowher hit a shot to bring the Tigers to within six and followed it up on the next possession with two good free throws to make it a four-point game. After a Cincinnati bucket, Whitney Downs knocked down a three-pointer that made it a one-possession game.
After a 7-0 Cincinnati run around the midway point of the half, the Tigers found themselves down 10 again and made what would be their last comeback attempt. Cowher scored six straight points to bring the Tigers within four at 51-47 with 7:07 left to play.
But another Bearcat streak put Princeton away. The Orange and Black scored just two points over the next four minutes, at the end of which Princeton was down by 13 with under three minutes left, a deficit too much to overcome.
The weekend tournament ended a five-of-six stretch away from Jadwin Gym. Princeton will now have three of its next four at home, beginning with a men's/women's doubleheader Wednesday evening. The women will host NJIT at 5 p.m. before the men's team takes on Lehigh at 7:30.
NOTES
The meeting was the first between Princeton and Cincinnati.
Caitlin O'Neill passed her previous career-best scoring total less than 12 minutes into the opening half when she hit her third three-pointer of the game to bring Princeton within 21-20. Her previous best was nine points against Maine earlier this season.
Saturday's game was the fifth in a row in which head coach Richard Barron put a different starting five on the floor than in the previous game. Meagan Cowher and Casey Lockwood, Princeton's two leading scorers, have been the only constants.
Meagan Cowher continued her double-digit scoring streak, which now stands at 13 games, dating back to last season. Casey Lockwood hit double-figures again for the fifth straight game and sixth of seven this year.