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Princeton University
Brown
Players Mentioned
Women's Hoops Tops Brown, 72-55, Tightening Ivy Race
March 03, 2006 | Women's Basketball
March 3, 2006
Box Score
PRINCETON, N.J. - It may end up being the stretch of time that put the Princeton women's basketball team into the postseason. For now, it was the three minutes, 14 seconds that kept the team's March hopes alive. After leading Brown 41-39 with 14:50 remaining in a neck-and-neck game, the Tigers went on a 14-0 run that helped seal Friday night's contest at Jadwin Gym, 72-55. The win pulls Princeton, at 10-2 in Ivy play and 19-6 overall, within a half-game of Brown at 11-2, 17-9 overall. While Brown wraps up its season at Penn on Saturday, the Tigers have two yet to play.
Yale, which entered the night tied for last in the conference with Columbia, visits Jadwin Gym on Saturday evening. But even though no team outside the Brown-Dartmouth-Princeton trio has defeated any of those teams this season, Columbia came close to spoiling things for Dartmouth on Friday. The Lions took the Big Green to overtime before falling, 70-65. That keeps Dartmouth tied with Princeton at 10-2 and continues the possibility of a three-way tie by season's end on Tuesday night.
Senior center Becky Brown led all scorers with 20 points and earned her eighth double-double of the season with 13 rebounds. Sophomore Meagan Cowher scored 18 and senior Katy O'Brien nailed 5 of 8 threes for 15 points. She and Jessica Berry, who could top the Princeton single-season assist total, each had six helpers. That gives rookie Berry 133 on the season, second only to the 149 Andrea Razi '96 had in 1995. For Brown, Sarah Hayes scored 15 points with nine boards and Colleen Kelly added 11.
The win avenged a loss at Brown on Feb. 4 in which Princeton lost the rebounding edge 40-30 and gave up 22 costly second-chance boards to the Bears. There was no such deficit for Princeton on Friday. The Tigers outrebounded Brown 33-22 and had 21 defensive rebounds to Brown's nine offensive boards. No team pulled ahead by more than five at any time in the first half as Princeton took a 32-29 lead into the break. The tight scoreboard was represented on the stat sheet as well, with Princeton outshooting Brown 50 percent to 45.8 percent and outrebounding the Bears 16-13.
It remained a close game until Princeton's breakway with just over five minutes gone in the second half. After a three-pointer by Brown's Jaclyn Vocell cut the Tiger lead to two, O'Brien answered back. Brown scored Princeton's next eight points including four from the line. Casey Lockwood capped the 14-0 run with a three-pointer to give Princeton a 55-39 edge with 11:36 to go. After that point, Brown never got closer than 13, when Lena McAfee immediately followed with a three-pointer. Princeton's advantage grew as large as 25 at 71-46 with 3:36 left.
Princeton outshot Brown 63.6 percent to 30.4 percent in the second half and outrebounded the Bears 17-9 in the period.
Saturday against Yale, the Tigers can match some program history. Only the 1988 and 1996 teams have won as many as 20 games, and three teams, last in 1999, won 11 Ivy games. Before Saturday's 7 p.m. tip-off, the Tigers will honor their four seniors, Brown, O'Brien, Ali Smith and Lauren Nestor, who are playing their last Ivy weekends.