Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Princeton Women's Basketball to Host Penn in Season Finale Tuesday
March 05, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Ivy scoring champion?: While the race is closer for the season as a whole, the Ivy League considers its scoring champion to be the highest scorer over the league's 14-game schedule. That honor will almost assuredly go to Meagan Cowher, giving the Tigers a league scoring champ for the second straight year. Cowher has 247 points in 13 Ivy games so far and the leading contender, Dartmouth's Ashley Taylor, has 225. Both play their final Ivy games Tuesday.
Historical precendence: Last season, Becky Brown had 240 points in 14 Ivy games for a 17.1 average. Since the league began recognizing a scoring champion in 1984, Princeton has never had back-to-back winners. The only other Tiger to earn the honor was Sandi Bittler '90 in 1988, when she averaged 20.6 points per Ivy game. Cowher is at 19.0 points per Ivy game.
Drive for 500: Meagan Cowher set the Princeton single-season scoring record at Yale last Saturday, topping Sandi Bittler's mark of 480 set in 1989. Cowher needs 18 points to become the first Tiger to reach 500 in a season. While the mark is not unprecedented in the Ivy League, relatively few have achieved it. In all, 13 Ivy Leaguers have scored 500 or more points 23 times. Harvard's Reka Czerny was the last to do so in 2005.
Around the league: Half the league's teams have already wrapped up their schedules, with Harvard and Dartmouth the only other game Tuesday. With Harvard already securing the NCAA bid last week, Dartmouth is the beneficiary of new WNIT rules that grant the second-place team from every conference an automatic berth.
What's at stake?: Princeton is playing for its first back-to-back seasons with a .500-or-better Ivy League record since 1998 and 1999. The Tigers were 12-12 last year and can be 7-7 this year. Princeton hadn't had a .500-or-better Ivy season since 1999 before last year.
Head coach Richard Barron: Princeton's head coach became the school's second-winningest coach with the Tigers' victory at Brown last weekend. He carries a 73-91 record at Princeton into the 2006-07 finale. In his sixth season, Barron is the Tigers' eighth coach since the team became varsity for the 1971-72 season, but only the second to have a tenure of at least six years. Joan Kowalik (1984-95) is the dean of Princeton women's basketball coaches, posting a 163-121 record in 11 seasons.
On Penn: Penn is looking for a winning Ivy season with a victory over the Tigers, as a loss would put the Quakers at 7-7 in a tie for fourth with Princeton. The Quakers have a solid guard and forward in seniors Joey Rhoads and Monica Naltner, respectively, that each average 15 points per game. Naltner is also the team's leading rebounder at 6.4 per game. Another senior guard, Lauren Pears, ranks second in the all-game Ivy listings in assists per game (4.23), steals per game (2.12) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.28). The Quakers have won three straight, sweeping Yale and Brown after beating Dartmouth in The Palestra two weekends ago.
The series: Princeton leads 39-22 and has won three in a row. The Tigers will be looking for a second straight season sweep of the Quakers and the ninth since the teams began playing twice yearly home and away in 1983.
Last we met: Points were plentiful when the Tigers and Quakers met at The Palestra Jan. 6 as the Tigers opened the Ivy season with a 78-72 win. Four Tigers were in double figures as Ali Prichard made five three-pointers for a career-high 20 points. Meagan Cowher scored 22 points, while Whitney Downs hit all four threes she attempted to finish with 16 points. Jessica Berry added 12 to join the 10-and-over crowd. Rhoads (24), Naltner (20) and Pears (10) were the big three for the Quakers, but free throws and three-pointers made the difference for Princeton. The Tigers hit 10 threes to Penn's six and Princeton was 16 of 22 at the line to Penn's 8 of 13.
Just a year ago: When Penn last visited Jadwin Gym, Mar. 7, 2006, the Tigers were on the verge of locking up a three-way tie atop the Ivy League with Brown and Dartmouth. Princeton won, 67-55, and the Tigers learned during the men's game that followed, also on ESPNU, that they would earn a bye in the special three-team tournament that would decide which team would advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Listen to the game, see the game: John Sadak will call Tuesday night's game from courtside at Jadwin Gym. 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.” The video broadcast is available for a monthly subscription of $7.95. Six-month and yearly subscriptions are also available. Just click on the video camera icon on the women's basketball schedule or the right side of the home page.
For the seniors: Four Tigers will be playing their final games in Princeton uniforms Tuesday night, including Casey Lockwood, Elyse Umeda, Shelly Slemp and Lillie Romeiser. All have been significant contributors for the Tigers for all four years since they joined the program in 2003.
Speaking of a senior: Guard Elyse Umeda has started the last six games, the longest run since 2004, when she started the last seven games of her rookie year. Those starts were also the only times she started that season, as is the case in 2006-07.
More senior: Casey Lockwood will conclude a noteworthy career tonight. She has had 17 double-digit scoring games this season and 40 in her career on her way to 787 points entering her final game.
From the seniors to the rookies: Elizabeth Pietrzak earned her first start Saturday night against Yale after pulling down a season (and career)-best 11 rebounds at Brown. She had seven boards at Yale as 18 of her 39 rebounds on the season came last weekend.
Same, but different: Whitney Downs, one of the Tigers' go-to three-point shooters, tied a career high with 17 points Saturday night at Yale. However, she hit only one from distance as she set a career best for field goals with eight. The sophomore, who had only one double-digit game last season, has had five this year. Her other 17-point game was against St. Francis (N.Y.) at Jadwin Gym in December.
Uncommon Cowher: What a junior season it's been for Tiger forward Meagan Cowher. On the way to likely winning the Ivy League scoring title and setting a record for points in a season by a Princeton player, Cowher scored in double digits in 24 of 27 games this year. In one weekend against Columbia and Cornell, she scored 66 with 35 coming against the Big Red. That was a career best and was three away from matching a 22-year-old Princeton single-game record. Also an impressive rebounder, she has had eight double-doubles this season.
Climbing the charts -- a comparison: Meagan Cowher's 35-point weekend lifted her to 1,125 for her career. That is good for 11th place, right where Becky Brown '06 stood before her senior season. Brown had 1,161 through three years on her way to 1,608 for her career, finishing in third place. Including Tuesday's game, Cowher would need 559 points to become the new record holder and surpass Sandi Bittler's total of 1,683.