Princeton University Athletics
Friday, November 9
College Park, Md.
7 p.m.
Princeton University
52
at
76
Maryland
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
No. 4 Maryland Tops Women's Hoops 76-52 in Preseason WNIT Opener
November 09, 2007 | Women's Basketball
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The Tigers would have loved to start the Courtney Banghart era with a win, but a worthy opponent stood in their way.
Princeton opened the Preseason WNIT Friday night with a 76-52 loss at Maryland (1-0), ranked No. 4 in both the AP and USA Today/coaches' preseason polls, in the debut of Banghart, Princeton's new head coach. In the three-game guarantee format with the Pre-WNIT, the Tigers will play two more contests Nov. 16-17 at one site which will be determined Saturday. In the interim, Princeton will travel to Wagner for a non-WNIT game Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Whitney Downs led the Tigers (0-1) with 14 points while Meagan Cowher added 13, upping her career total to 1,152, still in 11th place on the all-time school list. All 13 Tigers saw time as Krystal Hill and Shelbie Pool drained shots for their first career points.
Maryland outshot Princeton 57.1 percent (32 of 56) to 32.2 percent (19 of 59) and outrebounded the Tigers 38-26. Five Terps were in double-figures, led by Kristi Toliver's 16 points and 14 from Marissa Coleman. Jade Perry and Laura Harper had 12 apiece.
"One of our goals was to out-slow Maryland and I think we did that," Banghart said. "Maryland is a great rebounding team. They led the nation in rebounding last year and we know that."
Princeton stayed close in the first half until the Terps put together a 7-0 run that held the Tigers scoreless for five-plus minutes. Maryland was able to force Princeton into taking undesirable shots during the run, and the Tigers missed eight straight attempts. Cowher broke the drought with a bucket and a foul with six minutes left in the half, but that only cut the Maryland lead to 27-19.
The Tigers soon went on 7-0 a run of their own, holding Maryland without a basket for just less than three minutes as a Hill bucket brought Princeton within 31-26. Hill also had an impressive assist on Katy Digovich's first points of the year during the run, slinging the ball down the lane where Digovich could scoop it for the layup. A Cowher jumper with 15 seconds left had the Terp lead at seven with seconds ticking away, but Toliver let a 25-footer fly at the buzzer, sinking it for a 10-point halftime lead at 39-29.
"That's obviously a backbreaker," Banghart said of the Toliver three.
Cowher led the Tigers with 11 first-half points while Downs added eight. Toliver paced the Terrapins in the opening half with 12 while Perry added eight. As they were on the game as a whole, rebounds and shooting accuracy were the difference-makers for Maryland in the first 20 minutes, as the home team outrebounded the Tigers 21-11, though just four of those 21 Terp boards were on the offensive end. Maryland hit 15 of 27 from the field, a 55.6 percent rate, while Princeton canned 11 of 30, a 36.7 percent clip. Princeton had more attempts despite having fewer boards because Maryland took twice as many free throws, 10 to Princeton's five, a gap that narrowed to 11-9 Maryland on the night.
Momentum from the Toliver buzzer-beater may have carried over into the second half as the Terrapins didn't let Princeton within single digits during the period. Maryland's lead passed the 20-point mark on a Drey Mingo bucket with less than five minutes to play, giving the Terps a 67-47 lead. The largest Maryland advantage of 24 came on an Ashleigh Newman three-pointer with 1:41 to play, what ended up being the final bucket of the game.
Princeton opened the Preseason WNIT Friday night with a 76-52 loss at Maryland (1-0), ranked No. 4 in both the AP and USA Today/coaches' preseason polls, in the debut of Banghart, Princeton's new head coach. In the three-game guarantee format with the Pre-WNIT, the Tigers will play two more contests Nov. 16-17 at one site which will be determined Saturday. In the interim, Princeton will travel to Wagner for a non-WNIT game Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Whitney Downs led the Tigers (0-1) with 14 points while Meagan Cowher added 13, upping her career total to 1,152, still in 11th place on the all-time school list. All 13 Tigers saw time as Krystal Hill and Shelbie Pool drained shots for their first career points.
Maryland outshot Princeton 57.1 percent (32 of 56) to 32.2 percent (19 of 59) and outrebounded the Tigers 38-26. Five Terps were in double-figures, led by Kristi Toliver's 16 points and 14 from Marissa Coleman. Jade Perry and Laura Harper had 12 apiece.
"One of our goals was to out-slow Maryland and I think we did that," Banghart said. "Maryland is a great rebounding team. They led the nation in rebounding last year and we know that."
Princeton stayed close in the first half until the Terps put together a 7-0 run that held the Tigers scoreless for five-plus minutes. Maryland was able to force Princeton into taking undesirable shots during the run, and the Tigers missed eight straight attempts. Cowher broke the drought with a bucket and a foul with six minutes left in the half, but that only cut the Maryland lead to 27-19.
The Tigers soon went on 7-0 a run of their own, holding Maryland without a basket for just less than three minutes as a Hill bucket brought Princeton within 31-26. Hill also had an impressive assist on Katy Digovich's first points of the year during the run, slinging the ball down the lane where Digovich could scoop it for the layup. A Cowher jumper with 15 seconds left had the Terp lead at seven with seconds ticking away, but Toliver let a 25-footer fly at the buzzer, sinking it for a 10-point halftime lead at 39-29.
"That's obviously a backbreaker," Banghart said of the Toliver three.
Cowher led the Tigers with 11 first-half points while Downs added eight. Toliver paced the Terrapins in the opening half with 12 while Perry added eight. As they were on the game as a whole, rebounds and shooting accuracy were the difference-makers for Maryland in the first 20 minutes, as the home team outrebounded the Tigers 21-11, though just four of those 21 Terp boards were on the offensive end. Maryland hit 15 of 27 from the field, a 55.6 percent rate, while Princeton canned 11 of 30, a 36.7 percent clip. Princeton had more attempts despite having fewer boards because Maryland took twice as many free throws, 10 to Princeton's five, a gap that narrowed to 11-9 Maryland on the night.
Momentum from the Toliver buzzer-beater may have carried over into the second half as the Terrapins didn't let Princeton within single digits during the period. Maryland's lead passed the 20-point mark on a Drey Mingo bucket with less than five minutes to play, giving the Terps a 67-47 lead. The largest Maryland advantage of 24 came on an Ashleigh Newman three-pointer with 1:41 to play, what ended up being the final bucket of the game.
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