Princeton University Athletics
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Second-Half Drought Moves No. 11/12 Cal Past Women's Hoops, 68-42
December 08, 2007 | Women's Basketball
PRINCETON -- A second-half Princeton scoring drought of more than six minutes turned a tight game against California into a 68-42 win Saturday evening at Jadwin Gym.
The game is the first of back-to-back home contests against highly ranked opponents. California entered the week ranked No. 11 in the Associated Press poll and No. 12 in the coaches poll. Rutgers, which Princeton will face Wednesday at 7 p.m., entered the week No. 4 by the AP and No. 3 by the coaches.
"One of the things when you play a team like this is they want to put you away early so they don't have to deal with you," Princeton head coach Courtney Banghart said. "We wanted to make it a 40-minute game and make them deal with us for 40 minutes."
Princeton was able to keep Cal busy for the game's first 25 minutes before going 6:35 without a field goal during a 13-1 run. That turned a nine-point Cal lead into a 21- point advantage for the Golden Bears, who led by as much as 26 on two late occasions, including the final.
In the first half, however, the California margin was no more than single digits. The Golden Bears started the game on a 7-1 run, but Princeton got as close as 17-16 when Ali Prichard split a pair of free throws with eight minutes before halftime.
Cal's lead reached eight just after the four-minute mark and was back to five at halftime, 27-22. Kelsey Adrian, who led Cal with 13 points, gave the Bears their first double-digit lead at 37-26 on a bucket with 16:12 to play.
Princeton held Cal's leading scorer on the season, Ashley Walker, to eight points. Walker was averaging 21 per game heading into the contest. Meagan Cowher led Princeton with 14 points to bring her career total to 1,310, good for fifth place on the all-time school list.
Cal out-rebounded Princeton 49-26, but the Tigers had a season-low 11 turnovers and forced 16 from the Bears. Cal shot 50 percent (30 of 60) to Princeton's 32.1 percent (17 of 53), while both teams struggled from the free-throw line. Princeton made 6 of 13 free throws (46.2 percent), while Cal hit just 3 of 13 (23.1 percent).