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Ivy Second Half to Start Friday as Women's Hoops Visits Columbia, Cornell
February 15, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Women's basketball (10-11, 4-3 Ivy) will visit Cornell (9-12, 5-3) and Columbia (1-7, 5-17) Friday and Saturday, respectively, for a pair of 7 p.m. tips that will start the second half of the Ivy League season. Watch or listen to both games online at www.GoPrincetonTigers.com.
Starting the second half: Last weekend closed the Ivy season's first half, and the Tigers had a difficult pair of games to drop to 4-3 with seven more to play. Harvard dealt Princeton an 80-57 loss, and Dartmouth's 75-46 win was the largest margin of victory over Princeton in the 57-game series.
Still in the race: Despite the losses, Princeton (4-3) stands just two games behind Harvard (6-1) with seven to play, albeit in a crowded field. Dartmouth is 5-2 and Cornell is a half-game ahead of Princeton at 5-3.
Familiar surroundings: Meagan Cowher scored 59 points last season on the Columbia-Cornell trip, setting what was then a career high with 32 points at Columbia. She and the Tigers would welcome a similar offensive explosion after the Crimson and Big Green clamped down on the league's leading scorer for 14 and nine points, respectively, this weekend.
Motivating factor: After enjoying a win at Penn and a comeback victory over Columbia to start the Ivy season, the Tigers couldn't come back against Cornell, losing on their home floor Jan. 13 by a 70-66 score. Meagan Cowher scored a career-high 35 in the game, despite the loss.
Ivy scoring race tightens: As Meagan Cowher seeks to become Princeton's second straight Ivy League scoring champion after Becky Brown (16.0 ppg) won it last year, she'll have a few competitors vying for that title. After entering the weekend at 19.5 points per game, Cowher now stands at 18.8. Dartmouth's Ashley Taylor, who entered the week at 17.7, moved up to 18.0 to remain in second place.
From way downtown: Princeton shot 40 three-pointers, making nine, between the two games last weekend, the second-most attempts for any pair of games this season. Against NJIT and Rutgers, Princeton shot a total of 44, making 19.
Low 40s: It hasn't been an absolute, but shooting percentage has been a good indicator of how a game has gone for the Tigers this year. When Princeton shoots 42% or better, the team is 9-2. Lower than 42%, the team is 1-9. Similarly, when Princeton's opponents shoot 40% or better, Princeton is 4-10, while allowing lower than 40% has yielded the Tigers a 6-1 record.
Carrying the load: The Tigers have depended greatly on Meagan Cowher this season and certainly in the Ivy portion of the schedule. In those seven games, Cowher has made 36% of Princeton's field goals, taken 28% of the attempts, made 35% of the free throws, taken 36% of attempts from the line, made 19% of the rebounds and scored 33% of the points.
Getting some help: While watching Meagan Cowher score 35 points was impressive, it resulted in a Tiger loss. Cowher has been Princeton's leading scorer in six of the seven Ivy games, all except for the Dartmouth game. When Princeton has three or four players in double figures in Ivy play, the team is 3-0. When not, the team is 1-3.
More help: While getting Cowher some help scoring the basketball has been key, several Tigers have been willing. Just in Ivy play, five other Tigers have had double-figure games, including Ali Prichard (two), Casey Lockwood (three), Jessica Berry (three), Caitlin O'Neill (one) and Whitney Downs (one).
Chasing history: Meagan Cowher stands with 1,037 points, good for 16th in Princeton women's basketball history. While the career scoring record, held by Sandi Bittler '90 at 1,683, must wait until next year to be tested, Cowher is on pace to break a pair of seasonal records this year:
| Record | Amount | Cowher's Current Total | Pace |
| Points, season | 480 | 394 | 525 |
| Field goals made, season | 202 | 154 | 205 |
Listen to the game, see the game: John Sadak will call both games this weekend from Ithaca and Manhattan. Fans can access just the audio broadcast for free or the video streams for both games for $7.95 per month as well at www.GoPrincetonTigers.com by clicking on the speaker or video camera icons on the women's basketball schedule page, on the right side of the front page under “Schedule,” or by entering the Tiger Zone on the front page.
On Cornell: After starting the Ivy League season 4-0, the Big Red have lost three of four and stand at 5-3, one-half game ahead of the Tigers in third place. Center Jeomi Maduka, last year's Ivy Rookie of the Year, is the only Cornell player in double figures at 13.8 ppg, while also leading the team in rebounding at 7.8 rpg.
On Columbia: The Lions, who have struggled to a 1-7 Ivy record, also have one player in double figures with guard Megan Griffith at 13.5 ppg. Gaps in shooting percentage (46.4% for opponents, 38.9% for the Lions) and rebounding (39.1 rpg for the opponents, 30.7 rpg for Columbia) have certainly hurt the Lions on the season.
A couple close comebacks: Princeton only led for the game's last 6 1/2 minutes when Columbia came to Jadwin Gym last month and the Tigers tried to pull the same trick against Cornell. Down for most of the game, Princeton gained a 66-65 lead with 48 seconds left but saw Cornell score the last five points and get the win.
Princeton won despite Columbia getting five players in double figures and another with nine points. A few more turnovers from Columbia than Princeton (19-15) and more Tiger trips to the line (26-14) offset a 41-36 Lion rebounding edge. Against Cornell, Princeton's cold shooting (51.1% to 37.5%) was too much for a 41-30 Tiger rebounding edge in the Big Red win.
Princeton, Cornell, Columbia in Ivy rankings: Princeton and Cornell each rank No. 1 in the Ivy League in several categories. Princeton leads in three-point defense (foes shooting 31.7%), blocks (3.57 per game), defensive rebounds (24.76 per game) and threes per game (5.48). Cornell leads in free throw shooting (72.9%), rebounding defense (31.8 per game) and turnover margin (11.05 per game, the league's only positive team). Columbia's highest team ranking is second, where they rank in threes per game (5.36).
Individually, in addition to Meagan Cowher's Ivy-best 18.0 ppg, Cornell's Claire Perry is the league's best free throw shooter at 88.2 percent, while Columbia's Brittany Carfora is the most accurate three-point shooter (minimum 1 per game) at 50%. Cornell's Maduka leads in defensive rebounds at 5.81 per game.
Princeton, Cornell, Columbia in the NCAA rankings: Princeton has three top-100 rankings as a team, including assists per game (71st, 14.9), threes per game (73rd, 5.5), and blocks per game (93rd, 3.6). Individually, Meagan Cowher ranks 26th in scoring (18.8 ppg) and 74th in field goal percentage (49.7%).
Cornell ranks in the top 100 in free throw percentage (72.6%, 59th), while Columbia ranks is in double digits in threes per game (5.4, 83rd).