Princeton University Athletics
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Women's Basketball to Open Ivy League Play Saturday with Penn at Jadwin Gym
January 10, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Princeton vs. Penn
Sat., Jan. 12 at 7 p.m.
Jadwin Gym (Princeton)
Records: Princeton 3-13, 0-0 Ivy; Penn 3-11, 0-0 Ivy
All-Time Series: Princeton leads 40-22
Princeton head coach: Courtney Banghart (1st season/Dartmouth '00)
Penn head coach: Patrick Knapp (4th season/Widener '75)
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Local TV: Comcast Sports (Princeton area only)
Series vs. Penn: Only seniors Meagan Cowher and Ali Prichard have experienced a loss to Penn as the Tigers have a four-game winning streak against the Quakers. Princeton leads the series 40-22 all-time, but the series has gone back and forth in the 1990s and 2000s. Since 1990, no team has won more than five straight games in the series.
Someone's leaving happy: Saturday's game will match a pair of reeling teams as Princeton will be looking to snap a seven-game losing streak, its longest since 2004. Penn has dropped eight straight. Princeton's skid has featured a two-point heartbreaker against Syracuse and the wrong end of a buzzer-beater against Rider as well as four losses by double digits. The first seven games of Penn's streak were by double digits while the most recent game Wednesday night was a four-point loss to Lehigh.
Ivy openers: Princeton is 20-13 in Ivy League openers since the league began sponsoring women's basketball for the 1974-75 season. Against Penn, Princeton is 8-4 in Ivy openers including the last two seasons.
Banghart in Ivy openers: In her eight years at Dartmouth as an assistant coach or player, Princeton coach Courtney Banghart was 4-4 in Ivy openers. Seven of those eight times (3-4), the Big Green started with Harvard.
Seven of eight isn't bad: Princeton hit 7 of 8 shots from the free-throw line against Vanderbilt. The 88.9 percent success rate was its highest of the season and best since it hit all six at Columbia last season.
Guard the glass: Princeton will be looking to break a seven-game streak not only of ending up on the wrong side of the scoreboard but also of losing the rebounding battle. Princeton is 3-1 when it wins the rebounding battle and 0-12 when it does not.
Double-digit streak: Meagan Cowher just did continue her double-digit scoring streak with 11 points against Vanderbilt, getting at least 10 for the 19th straight game. That ties the longest such streak of her former teammate and one of the three players in program history to reach 1,600 points, Becky Brown, who reached double digits in the last 19 games of her career.
Hill's heights: Freshman guard Krystal Hill has seen a bump in minutes lately, playing 54 of her 103 minutes in the last four games. Hill also has eight of her 10 rebounds on the season in the last four games and has scored 24 of her 44 points during the span.
Prichard for three: Ali Prichard has made a three-pointer in 10 straight games and 14 of the 16 this year.
More scoring streaks: Meagan Cowher's streak of having at least a point continued into its 73rd game against Vanderbilt. The next longest active streak belongs to Ali Prichard, who has scored in 10 straight games.
Speaking of streaks: Meagan Cowher may be thought of as a scorer, but she also has a streak of 93 games with a rebound. That's all 93 games she has played at Princeton. Cowher is the only Tiger who has a rebound in every game this season.
Welcome freshmen: Addie Micir has started eight games this season, the most for a Princeton freshman since Meagan Cowher started 19 games as a rookie in 2004-05.
Common foes: Princeton and Penn have just three common non-league opponents this season. Penn beat Rider while Princeton lost a heartbreaker to the Broncs, while both teams lost to Lafayette. Princeton was able to defeat Lehigh, while the Quakers fell to the Mountain Hawks by four in Penn's most recent game Wednesday night.
Dialing distance: Princeton has a 17-game streak of taking a double-digit number of three-pointers. The Tigers have done so in all 16 games this year and the season finale of 2006-07. Princeton has taken as many as 29 shots from beyond the arc in a game this season.
Representing with class: All four classes have had someone score at least two points in every game so far this year.
Tough sched: In this week's AP and coaches polls, three Princeton opponents are in the top 10. That includes Maryland at No. 4, Rutgers at No. 5 and California at No. 9. Another opponent, Vanderbilt, is receiving votes.
Who's back: Penn lost more than the Tigers did from a season ago in terms of contributors in the teams' two meetings last year. From the season-ending meeting last March, Penn returns 17 of its 51 points. Carrie Biemer, with nine points, is the team's leading returning scorer from that game and, by no coincidence, is the team's leading overall scorer this season. Princeton returns 45 of its 61 points from that season-ending meeting.
Watch the game, listen to the game: Princeton women's basketball is scheduled to broadcast all 30 games free of charge at www.GoPrincetonTigers.com. Video of home games and select away games is also available for a subscription. Derek Jones will once again be courtside for Saturday's Ivy League opener.
Saturday's not alright with them: Princeton will be looking to break a Saturday spell so far this season as the Tigers are 0-7 on the sixth day. That includes two of its closest finishes: the overtime loss to Delaware State and the buzzer-beating three-pointer that gave Rider a win.
Let's make it later: While the day of the week for the Penn game is not fortuitous, at least the time has been. All three of Princeton's wins have come in games with 7 p.m. tip-offs.
A look around the Ivy: With the eight Ivy League schools juggling different finals schedules, no date the rest of January will see more than three games. The Princeton-Penn game is just the second intra-Ivy contest after last Saturday's 52-47 Dartmouth win over Harvard. Columbia-Cornell and Yale-Brown will take place next Saturday, while the other three “travel partner” pairs besides Princeton-Penn will finish off their season series with each other January 26. February 1 is the first day that will feature all eight teams in intraleague action.
Looking ahead: Princeton will have 19 days away from competition after the Penn game. The Tigers are in reading period at present, which ends Jan. 15. Finals will run Jan. 16-26. Princeton's 19-day run without games is only the second-longest stretch in the Ivy League this season behind a 23-day gap for Brown in December.