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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Harvard
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Players Mentioned
First-Half Deficit Too Much for Women's Hoops at Harvard, Falling 80-57
February 09, 2007 | Women's Basketball
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Though it is only one game in the 14-game tournament that is the Ivy League basketball season, Friday night's 80-57 loss at Harvard has made the Princeton women's basketball team's run at a second straight Ivy title a little more difficult.
The loss drops Princeton to 4-2 in the Ivy League and 10-10 overall. Harvard, which entered the night tied with Princeton for the league lead, now has the advantage to itself at 5-1 and 7-12 overall.
Turnovers and cold shooting put the Tigers in a hole early and the deficit was too much to overcome.
Meagan Cowher was Princeton's leading scorer with 14 points. The total was an Ivy-low for Cowher, who had scored no fewer than 22 points in any of the first five league contests. Jessica Berry was also in double digits with 13 points.
Harvard had four players in double figures, including Lindsay Hallion (23), Niki Finelli (20), Katie Rollins (12) and Emily Tay (10).
In what was just Princeton's second road game of the Ivy League season after four straight at home, the Tigers seemed to find their rhythm when tying the game at 6-6 on an Ariel Rogers jumper with 15:51 to play. But the next Harvard run, a 16-0 streak that held Princeton scoreless for over six minutes, put Princeton in a comeback mode that lasted the rest of the game.
The Tigers got within 24-17, but the run stalled as Harvard took a 39-23 lead into the halftime break.
Princeton had 11 first-half turnovers, leading to 22 Harvard points, and shot 26% (8 of 31) in the first 20 minutes. A 26-22 Crimson rebounding edge added to the frustration. Meanwhile, the Crimson shot 31% in the opening half and made just six turnovers.
The picture changed little for the Tigers in the second half as Princeton never cut the lead to single digits. Harvard's largest lead was
Princeton finished with 21 turnovers and 36.7% shooting, hitting 22 of 60. Though the Tigers hit five three-pointers, 23 of the team's shot attempts came from distance. Harvard scored 35 points off Princeton's giveaways.
The Crimson shot 44.8% for the game while committing 15 turnovers and outrebounding Princeton 42-36.
Harvard's largest lead was 26 at 57-31 with 11:50 to play on a Hallion three-pointer. From that point, Princeton never got closer than 14 points at 65-51 with just over four minutes to play.
The Tigers will look to rebound Saturday night at Dartmouth in a 7 p.m. contest.
NOTES
Meagan Cowher's 14 points moved her into 16th place on the all-time scoring list. She now has 1,028. Allison Cahill (1999-03) is next with 1,058 points.
Princeton fell to 9-20 all-time at Harvard.