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Foiled Again, Tigers' Home Upset Bid of No. 6 Rutgers Falls Short
December 12, 2007 | Women's Basketball
PRINCETON -- It happened again between the Princeton and Rutgers women's basketball teams Wednesday night at Jadwin Gym.
In back-to-back meetings now, the only meetings between the teams at Jadwin in the last 10 seasons, the Tigers have come oh-so-close to pulling the upset of Rutgers, which was ranked No. 6 in the AP poll on both occasions.
The Tigers had it tied as late as inside of the six-minute mark of the second half, but the Scarlet Knights hit their shots down the stretch and emerged with a 53-48 win.
"I think what this shows you is who you can count on in game situations," Princeton coach Courtney Banghart said. "It shows we won't back down and a game at this speed really shows your weaknesses."
Princeton stayed in the game by keeping its turnovers low for the second straight contest with 12 compared to 14 for Rutgers. The Tigers had 11 against another ranked team, No. 11 California last Saturday.
Meagan Cowher led Princeton with 20 points and six rebounds, moving her career total to 1,330 and remaining in fifth place on the all-time school list. Addie Micir had her third double-digit game in the last month, scoring 10 points. Cowher has now scored 10 or more points in the last 14 games.
Epiphanny Prince led Rutgers with 17 points while Kia Vaughn, who burst out with a career-high 27 points in last season's meeting, had 12.
The game came two years and a day after the last time these two teams got together in Jadwin. In that game, Princeton led by as many as six during the first period and still clung to a two-point lead at halftime. But an 11-0 second-half run put the Scarlet Knights ahead for good and the upset bid was foiled.
The script played similarly again Wednesday, with Princeton taking a lead of as much as six on three occasions, last on a Cowher layup with 7:01 to play before the break. Though Rutgers went on a 12-0 run to take a six-point lead of its on on a Myia McCurdy layup with 45 seconds left, Cowher scored the half's last four points including a breakaway layup at the buzzer.
Rutgers looked like it might run away with the game in the second half, embarking on a 7-1 run that reached its peak on split free throws by Prince. The Knights led 35-25 with 15:09 to play at that point.
Rutgers again led by 10 when Prince buried a three-pointer to take a 40-30 advantage with 11:37 to play, but the Tigers had a run of their own. Four Princeton players chipped in to score the next 10 points, and the game was tied at 40-40 with 7:38 left.
It was tied again at 45-45 when Ali Prichard hit a clutch three-pointer with 5:18 to play, but the Tigers missed three straight three-pointers while Rutgers picked up three straight buckets and a seven-point lead with 3:34 left.
The game didn't get closer than four after that, and Rutgers escaped.
While Rutgers improves to 8-2 and the Tigers fall to 3-8, Princeton will try again at knocking off a Big East opponent Sunday when it tangles with 7-1 Syracuse at 2 p.m. at Jadwin Gym. The Princeton men's team will follow with a 5 p.m. game against Manhattan.