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Princeton University
New Jersey Inst. of Tech.
Players Mentioned
Women's Hoops Cruises to 75-51 Win over NJIT
December 06, 2006 | Women's Basketball
PRINCETON, N.J. -- Using hot shooting of its own and some cold aim from the visitors, the Princeton women's basketball team eased past NJIT, 75-51, Wednesday evening at Jadwin Gym. Princeton improved to 3-5 on the year, while NJIT dropped to 2-6.
Junior forward Meagan Cowher had her third double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds while three other Tigers were in double-figures. She has reached double-digits in the points column for 14 straight games, dating back to last year.
Sophomore guard Jessica Berry scored 14 points, hitting 4 of 5 three-point attempts for her most points since last November when she came within a bucket of setting the Princeton rookie record with 30 points against St. Mary's in California last season. Ali Prichard had 11 points, hitting 3 of 4 from distance, while scoring the second-most points of her career. Prichard's career record is 17, reached in the final game of the 2004-05 season against Harvard. Whitney Downs' 10 points, the second time in her career she has hit double-digits.
While NJIT made just two of its first 20 shots through the game's first 13:34, the Tigers jumped out to an 18-6 lead that the Highlanders never cut below 10. Princeton led by as many as 28. NJIT finished with 28.6 percent shooting, the lowest average for a Princeton opponent since Feb. 18, 2005, when Yale had the same percentage.
Turnovers, which have been a foible for the Tigers so far this season, were present again for the Orange and Black, which had 18 giveaways to 14 to NJIT.
"We've got to not turn the ball over," head coach Richard Barron said. "Turnovers are not just making bad passes, it's fouls, illegal screens. Right now we're just playing a little too fast."
Princeton's shooting percentage was above 55 percent at points during the game as the Tigers' accuracy fueled the blowout. NJIT lost the rebounding battle, 40-36, but had 16 second-chance boards that might have kept the Highlanders in the game if it weren't for Princeton's defense. The Tigers limited Katie Piekielski, NJIT's leading scorer entering the game, to no points from the field on 0 for 13 shooting. Jill Dickinson led the Highlanders with 12 points and nine boards.
"I think there were moments when we responded to what the coaches were looking for out of us, but we need to work on making those flashes of consistency last longer," Downs said.
The Tigers began a three-of-four home streak with Wednesday's game. The lone road game during that mini-stretch is Saturday, when Princeton will make the short trip to Rutgers.
NOTES
Princeton's 11 three-pointers were the most since Dec. 1, 2004, when the team had that many against Wagner.
The game was Princeton's first meeting against NJIT, which is reclassifying Division I and is playing its first season with a majority-Division I schedule.
Princeton used every available player, a season-high 16, and freshmen Cheryl Stevens and Lauren Cowher made their collegiate debuts. Stevens was 2 for 4 from the free-throw line for her first points at Princeton.