Princeton University Athletics
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Last Ivy Weekend Ahead for Women's Basketball
February 27, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Looking for four: The Yale-Brown weekend at Jadwin Gym a month ago was the only weekend of the league season Princeton swept. The Tigers will be seeking just their second season sweep of both Yale and Brown since the double round-robin format began in 1983. The only other time Princeton won all four against the two schools was 1999.
Ivy scoring race gets tighter: Meagan Cowher scored 19 points against Dartmouth, but Harvard limited her to just three, her lowest since the last game of the 2005 season against the Crimson, putting her at 17.9 points per game. But Ashley Taylor of the Big Green also saw her scoring average fall slightly to 17.5 ppg. Cowher led Taylor 18.5 to 17.7 heading into last weekend.
Berger, Pietrzak set career highs: In what could be a preview of Princeton's post players the next few years, sophomore Julia Berger and freshman Elizabeth Pietrzak had the first double-digit scoring games of their careers as each had 11 against Harvard last weekend.
Ivy title race takes shape: Princeton entered last weekend still alive in the Ivy League title race, but the loss to Harvard eliminated the Tigers, who stand in a fourth-place tie with Penn, five games back. Harvard (10-1), on a nine-game winning streak, leads Cornell (8-4) and Dartmouth (7-4) and needs to win only one of its last three to wrap up the outright title and NCAA automatic bid.
History this weekend?: Meagan Cowher has scored 447 points this year, just 33 short of tying the single-season record of 480 set by Sandi Bittler '90 in 1989.
Double double-doubles: Meagan Cowher (19 p/10 r) and Casey Lockwood (12 p/10 r) each had a double-double against Dartmouth last Friday. It was the first time since Feb. 24, 2006, that two Princeton players had a double-double in the same game.
On Brown: A season after joining Princeton and Dartmouth as Ivy League champions, Brown will wrap up a struggling season in which it enters the weekend 5-21 overall and 3-9 in the league. Senior Ashley King-Bischof is the team's leading scorer and rebounder at 11.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. More turnovers than its opponents this season have compounded a rebounding and a shooting disparity have cost the Bears. Foes are shooting 42.9% overall and 37.2% from distance, defensive categories that both rank in the lower half of the league.
On Yale: As has Princeton, Yale has struggled after a strong 3-1 start to Ivy play. The Feb. 2 loss at Jadwin Gym started the Bulldogs on a 6 of 7 skid, including the last four. Yale has shot 133 more three-pointers than its opponents this year, but it hasn't made up for an overall shooting percentage deficit of 42.4% to 40.5%, nor for a league-high 21.1 turnovers per game.
Davis dominates: Senior center Erica Davis, a Burlington County, N.J., native, has shown she's among the most talented players in the Ivy League. She ranks in the top 50 in Division I in field goal percentage, rebounds per game and blocks per game. Her 15.8 points per game average is third in the league, while her 9.2 rebounds are a league-best, as is her 53.0 field goal percentage and her 2.35 blocks per game.
Last meetings: In the only weekend sweep this season, Princeton defeated Yale, 83-73, and Brown, 69-51, Feb. 2-3 at Jadwin Gym. Against Yale, Princeton led from the midway point of the first half through the final horn and nailed 30 of 37 free throws for the game, one of only three times in program history Princeton has hit 30 or more free throws. The Tigers survived being outshot and outrebounded -- thanks in large part to 25 points and 18 rebounds from Erica Davis -- with all those free throws and by winning the turnover battle, 18-8.
Against Brown, 16 Tigers played as Princeton never trailed and led by as much as 21. Meagan Cowher scored her 1,000th point in the game as Princeton shot 42.6% and held Brown to 26.6%, a season-low for a Tiger opponent.
He's No. 2: Princeton's win over Dartmouth was the 72nd win of Richard Barron's six-year Princeton tenure. That ties him with Pat Walsh (1974-79) for second all-time. Joan Kowalik (1984-95) is first with 163 wins.
Berry choosy: Sophomore point guard Jessica Berry may not have had any 30-point games this year like she did a year ago against Central Florida, but she has become more effective with her shots. Last year, while scoring 193 points, she hit 31.4% of all field goals and 26.8 percent of threes. With three games left this season, she has scored 156 points while making 42.6% overall and 36.7% from distance.
Like old times: Elyse Umeda and Katy Digovich have started the last four games after Umeda started none last year and Digovich took last season off from school. Digovich last started four straight in the 2004-05 season and Umeda last did so in 2003-04.
Corralling Cowher: The Ivy's top team all but stopped the Ivy's leading scorer last Saturday as Harvard held Meagan Cowher to three points on 1 of 5 shooting and 1 of 2 free throws. Prior to that, she had been kept out of double-digits only twice this year, both times with nine points. She scored no fewer than four all last year, but had two 2-point games and one scoreless game as the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2004-05.
Listen to the game, see the game: John Sadak will call both games this weekend in Providence and New Haven. Fans can access just the audio broadcast for free at www.GoPrincetonTigers.com by clicking on the speaker icon on the women's basketball schedule page or on the right side of the front page under “Schedule.”
Lockwood ups the points: Casey Lockwood, along with Meagan Cowher the only two Tigers to start all 25 games, has scored in double digits in each of the last five games to match the longest such streak of the season. During the streak, she broke her career high with 22 points at Cornell and had her first double-double of the season against Dartmouth.
Tales of turnovers: Princeton has had as many or more turnovers than its opponent in each of the last seven games while taking a 2-5 record during that stretch.
Blocking the way: Also in the last seven games, Princeton has out-blocked its opponent by a combined margin of 29-12. Not surprisingly, Princeton is the Ivy's best blocking team at 3.7 per game.
Stay up late: Princeton's season finale against Penn will tip off Tuesday, Mar. 6 at approximately 9 p.m. after the televised 7 p.m. men's game on ESPNU.