PROVIDENCE, R.I. ? Princeton built an early lead at Brown Saturday
night and rode it to a 70-56 women's basketball win on the Bears' home floor.
The win snaps a five-game skid for the Tigers, who improve
to 5-18 overall and 2-5 in Ivy League play. Brown drops to 2-20, 1-7.
Meagan Cowher had 15 first-half points en route to a 24-point
game. That moves her to 1,541 for her career, good for fourth place. Whitney
Downs added 19 points including four three-pointers to pass her previous
career-best of 17 points. Caitlin O'Neill joined the group with double-digit
point totals with 10.
“We gave her the ball in a position where she could be
successful,” Princeton head coach Courtney
Banghart said of Cowher. “You have to play the game at the pace of your posts
and we played the game at the pace of our posts tonight.”
The Tigers had a 6-0 lead before the game was two minutes
old and increased the lead to double-digits for the first time on a Caitlin O'Neill
three-pointer for a 19-9 advantage with 12:19 left before the break. Princeton led by as much as 18 as late as 3:24 before
halftime on Cowher's last bucket of the period before Brown cut it to 14 at the
break.
Princeton shot 55.6 percent
in the first half to Brown's 42.3 percent. For the game, the Tigers outshot
Brown 48.1 percent to 44.4 percent and outrebounded the Bears 32-30.
Brown never got closer than eight points after the break on
a bucket by Sadiea Williams with 7:24 left. Princeton
answered with five straight points and the lead never shrunk to single digits
again. Williams finished with 10 poins while Christina Johnson led Brown with
11.
The Brown game ends the first run through the Ivy League double
round-robin. Princeton will host back-to-back weekends, starting with Harvard's
visit next Friday night at 7 and Dartmouth
coming to Jadwin Gym Saturday for a 6 p.m. tip. The Dartmouth
game will serve as Princeton's contribution to
the WBCA's “Think Pink” event, dedicated to the fight against breast cancer.
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