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Ivy Title Hopes at Stake as Women's Hoops Hosts First-Place Brown, Yale This Weekend
February 28, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2006
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Big game: Brown enters Friday's game at 11-1 in the Ivy League, one-and-a-half games over Princeton and Dartmouth (9-2). If the Tigers win, they'd pull to within a half-game of first place, a deficit Princeton would have the opportunity to make up next Tuesday versus Penn if both Brown and Princeton are winners on Saturday, too.
Playoffs?: No team outside of the Princeton-Brown-Dartmouth trio has defeated any of those teams this year. If Princeton defeats Brown and none of the teams out of contention pulls an upset, the three schools would be in a three-way tie atop the league at 12-2. Never in women's Ivy history has there been a tri-championship and only once in Ivy men's history has that happened. In 2002, Yale, Princeton and Penn all tied atop the league and Penn was determined to be the top team by going 3-1 in that group. Princeton and Yale played for the right to face Penn for the NCAA berth. If the women's scenario plays out, all three teams would be 1-1 against each other, forcing a random draw to determine the top team of those three.
School records at stake: At 18-6 overall and 9-2 in the Ivy League, the `05-'06 Tigers are chasing some lofty school marks. If Princeton wins the last three Ivy games, it would be 12-2 for the first time in school history and top the `87, `88 and `99 teams at 11-3. Overall, the Tigers have played at least 24 games every year since 1979. Only the 1988 squad had as good as an 18-6 record. Three more wins would break that team's and the 1996 team's record of 20 overall victories. Double the double-doubles, times two: In each of the last two weekends, two Tigers have had double-doubles in the same game. Becky Brown and Casey Lockwood had double-digit points and rebounds against Columbia on Feb. 18 and Brown and Meagan Cowher pulled the feat on Friday against Dartmouth.
Senior leader: Becky Brown is doing all she can to extend Princeton's season. In each of the last 15 games, Brown has scored no fewer than 12 points and had 20 points or more four times. She has had three double-doubles in that span as well.
She's a three-thinker: Senior Katy O'Brien hit six threes over the weekend to give her 180 for her career. That's good for fourth place on the Princeton all-time list. Maggie Langlas `00 is just ahead at 184 and former teammate Maureen Lane `03 had 190 threes. All-time leading scorer Sandi Bittler `90 is also the leading three-point scorer with 246 from beyond the arc. Currently, O'Brien is second in the league in three-pointers per game at 2.25 and seventh in three-point accuracy at .372.
Miss Accuracy: Becky Brown is on pace to clear both the Princeton career and season records for field-goal percentage. Christina Smith `94 holds the career record at .522 and Brown currently has a .557 career average. For the season, Kaaren Andrews `93 hit at a .566 clip while Brown's percentage is .653. While Brown is tops in the conference in that category, Meagan Cowher is second at .507.
League's leading scorer: Becky Brown continues to lead the league in scoring at 15.9 points per game. She's just ahead of Brown's Sarah Hayes at 15.6 ppg. Meagan Cowher is sixth in the conference at 14.4 ppg.
She's not the only one: Becky Brown's accuracy from the field is representative of the whole Tiger team. Hitting at a .464 clip, the current team is on pace to eclipse the `92-'93 team's .446 percentage. This season, the team ranks 15th in Division I in field-goal percentage, the second-highest ranking of any team outside a major conference.
Need assistance: Jessica Berry's 127 assists -- as a freshman, no less -- could threaten the Princeton single-season record of 149 totaled by Andrea Razi `96 as a junior. Berry is in fourth place on the single-season list at present, behind the 131 recorded both as a junior by Margaret Niemann `85 and Razi as a senior. Berry's 5.52 assists per game rank No. 1 in the Ivy League and 20th nationally, second among freshmen. As a team, the Tigers are tied with Dartmouth for the league lead at 15.88 per game with Katy O'Brien (4.04) No. 3 in the league.
Now boarding: Becky Brown ranks third in the conference at 7.7 rebounds per game while Meagan Cowher ranks 10th at 5.7 rpg. Brown is also No. 2 in the conference in second-chance boards with 3.0 per game, behind Brown's Sarah Hayes at 3.2. With all those rebounds, Princeton is No. 1 in the league in rebounding margin, averaging 4.6 more rebounds per game than its foes. But the Tigers need to box out against Brown, which averages a league-best 14.56 second-chance rebounds per game. Princeton is tied for second (13.0) in that category.
Last time against Brown: The Tigers were upended 49-47 by Brown at the Pizzitola Sports Center on Feb. 4. A 40-30 rebounding edge, including 22 offensive rebounds for the Bears, helped drop Princeton to 4-1 in league play and lift Brown to 5-1. Sarah Hayes had 10 total boards and seven on the offensive glass. Becky Brown had 21 points for the Tigers to lead all scorers. Two more factors, turnovers and three-pointers, also helped to doom the Tigers. Princeton committed 21 turnovers and missed all 12 shots from distance. Brown, meanwhile, had 19 giveaways and was 6 of 17 from three-point range. Colleen Kelly had three of those for 13 total points and Jaclyn Vocell had 10 points with two threes.
Last time against Yale: A day before meeting Brown, Princeton ended a 19-day break for finals against Yale with a 53-37 win. Princeton dominated the glass with a 40-25 rebounding edge and shot a solid 42.6 percent for the game to 30 percent for the Bulldogs. And the Tigers did it without the help of a three-point basket, attempting none on the night. Becky Brown and Meagan Cowher each had 13 points while Stephanie Marciano led Yale with 10.
Hold on to that ball: Brown leads the Ivy League in steals per game at 11.2. The Bears have four players in the league's top 10, including the top two. Sarah Hayes is No. 1 at 2.6 steals per game and Colleen Kelly is No. 2 at 2.2. But the Tigers can pull some larceny as well, with Casey Lockwood (2.0) and Katy O'Brien (1.7) ranked in the top 10 as well. Not surprisingly, Brown is also No. 1 in the league in turnover margin, causing 4.56 more turnovers per game than they give up.
From Jadwin Gym to your computer: For the 22nd and 23rd times this season, Princeton's games this weekend can be heard on the World Wide Web by visiting the Princeton athletic home page, www.goprincetontigers.com. Click on the "Live Audio" link under the game's listing on the right side of the front page, or go to the game's listing on the women's basketball schedule page to find the link. After Derek Jones called the first Dartmouth-Harvard road sweep in team history last weekend, John Sadak is back behind the mic this weekend as Princeton continues its Ivy title chase.
Game time moved: The Penn-Princeton women's game on Mar. 7 will now start at 6:15 p.m. instead of 4 p.m. as originally announced. It is part of a doubleheader with the men's team, whose game will be televised at 9 p.m. on ESPNU.
For starters: In all 24 games this year, Princeton's starting lineup has had the same combination by class: two seniors, one junior, one sophomore, one freshman. The lineup itself has remained the same in 22 games, while in the other two, 2008's Ariel Rogers replaced fellow soph Meagan Cowher and 2009's Whitney Downs filled in for fellow rookie Jessica Berry.
Head Coach Richard Barron: In his fifth season, Richard Barron's 58 wins rank fourth in program history, behind Liz Feeley's 68 wins from 1995-2000, Pat Walsh's 72 wins from 1974-79, and Joan Kowalik's 163 wins from 1984-95.