Princeton University Athletics
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Princeton Women's Basketball to Visit No. 19/21 Rutgers Saturday
December 08, 2006 | Women's Basketball
PRINCETON, N.J. -- Princeton (3-5), having snapped its three-game skid with a win Wednesday over NJIT, will make the short trip to play Rutgers (2-4) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Piscataway, N.J. The Scarlet Knights entered the week ranked No. 19 in the AP poll and No. 21 by the coaches, but have dropped back-to-back games to Duke and DePaul.
Turnover troubles: Princeton has struggled at times this season with turnovers, averaging 21.5 per game. The team has had five games with more than 20 giveaways and is 2-3 when committing more turnovers than its opponent.
Last time out: The Tigers led by as many as 28 points on the way to a 75-51 win in its first-ever meeting against NJIT, a reclassifying Division I school. Princeton shot 49.0 percent to NJIT's 28.6 percent, the lowest shooting clip for a Tiger opponent since Feb. 18, 2005, when Yale had the same percentage.
Sub!: Princeton used a season-high 16 players against NJIT, but the number is not a complete anomaly. Head coach Richard Barron has tapped no fewer than 11 players in any game this season.
Cowher's streak continues: Junior forward Meagan Cowher scored 16 points and had 11 rebounds against NJIT for her third double-double on the season. She has scored 10 or more points in 14 straight games, including the last six last year.
Lockwood locks in: Casey Lockwood, Princeton's second-leading scorer with 11.6 points per game, is also Princeton's most accurate regular shooter at 52.2 percent. She had scored double-digits in six of the first seven games and five straight until the NJIT game, when she took just three shots.
On the series: Princeton is 3-10 all-time versus Rutgers and has lost seven straight in the series. Before head coach Richard Barron helped renew the series three seasons ago, the two teams had played only twice since 1980. The Tigers have fallen in all seven attempts on the Rutgers campus.
Last year's meeting: The Tigers had a strong team last year, but a win over a top-10 team like Rutgers would have been an upset. It almost happened. Princeton was up by two at the half, but Rutgers' point guard and current WNBA player, Cappie Pondexter, scored 19 of her 25 points in the second half to lead the Scarlet Knights to a nine-point win.
Try this combo: Richard Barron and his staff had put five different starting lineups on the floor from the previous game prior to last night, when he used the Meagan Cowher-Lockwood-Downs-Prichard-Slemp combination for the second straight game. Starting is a regular occurrence for Cowher and Lockwood, but Downs had never started consecutive games until the last two contests and Prichard had not started back-to-back games before starting the last three. Slemp last started three straight in December 2004.
For threeee: Princeton's 11 three-pointers against NJIT were the most since Dec. 1, 2004, when the team had that many against Wagner. Jessica Berry contributed a career-high four threes and Ali Prichard added three. Lillie Romeiser added her first three since March 5, 2005, against Dartmouth. The Tigers have hit between two and five three-pointers in every game this season and have taken far more attempts from distance (133) than their opponents (96).
Almost-bests: A few Tigers had near-career nights against NJIT. Jessica Berry's 14 points were her most since Nov. 25, 2005 when she had 30 in a narrow loss at St. Mary's in California. That total was two points from setting a new Princeton rookie record. Ali Prichard had 11 points for the second time in her career and the first time since her career-best 17-point performance in the 2004-05 season-ender against Harvard. Whitney Downs reached double-digits for the second time in her career and first since her career-high 11 points against Lafayette last season.
Countdown to 1,000: Meagan Cowher could become Princeton's 17th 1,000-point scorer this season. She has 774 for her career and would need to average 11.3 points per game over Princeton's last 20 contests to attain the milestone by the end of the regular season. She is currently averaging 16.4 points per game.
Listen to 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.
Ivy struggles: Princeton isn't the only Ivy League squad struggling before the league season begins in January. As a whole, the league has a 13-47 record through Thursday's games and no Ivy school is above .500 with Penn leading at 3-3.
Gotta get to the line: Games can be won or lost at the free-throw line, and the Tigers might need to get there more often. Princeton has attempted 47 fewer free throws than its foes, 170-123, while converting at a nearly identical rate (63.4 percent for Princeton, 63.5 percent for the opponents). However, in only one game this year has the difference in number of free throws taken been larger than the outcome. Maine won the contest against the Tigers Nov. 19 by hitting from the line down the stretch, converting 17 of 29 for the game while Princeton hit 4 of 10.
On Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights are 2-4 coming off losses to Duke and DePaul. Epiphany Prince, who made news as a prep by scoring 113 points in a Feb. 2006 game, leads Rutgers with 15.3 per night despite not yet getting a start. Essence Carson (11.4) and Kia Vaughn (10.2) also average double-figures.
More famous names: The Tigers have their own famous surname on the roster with the Cowher sisters. This season, Princeton has also faced teams with a sister of Boston Celtic Wally Szczerbiak (Wendy Szczerbiak, Lehigh), a daughter of former NBAer Bill Cartwright (Kristin Cartwright, Northwestern). Now the Tigers will face Brittany Ray, sister of Boston Celtic Allan Ray.
Plenty of help: Five Princeton players have between 15 and 17 assists on the season, from guards like Shelly Slemp and Jessica Berry to forwards like Casey Lockwood and Meagan Cowher.
Looking for No. 3: Princeton head coach Richard Barron has 64 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.
All in: With Lauren Cowher and Cheryl Stevens making their collegiate debuts against NJIT, all 17 players on the Princeton roster have played this season and all five freshmen have made their collegiate debuts. Cheryl Stevens also hit two free throws against the Highlanders for her first collegiate points.