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Princeton University
UCLA
Players Mentioned
Tigers Lead UCLA Through First 25 Minutes, Fall 69-59
November 26, 2009 | Women's Basketball
LOS ANGELES (11/25/09) - The Princeton women's basketball team led UCLA through more than half of the contest, but the Bruins battled back to take a 69-59 game at Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday, Nov. 25.
With five Tigers from the state of California it was as close to a home game as the team could get, with a healthy Princeton showing in the stands.
A pair of Californians, sophomore Lauren Edwards and freshman Niveen Rasheed, led the team in scoring with 18 and 14 points apiece. Rasheed led the team under the basket with eight boards, while Edwards picked up a team-high three steals.
"I know the kids in the locker room are disappointed because they had every intention of winning the game and so did we," said head coach Courtney Banghart. "To be down five with the ball and two minutes to play was the chance that we wanted and we couldn't pull it out. We shot 17 percent from three, but we couldn't buy a bucket late. That's to take nothing away from the 40-minute effort that we gave. I'm really proud with the fight that we showed."
The Tigers jumped out to an 8-2 lead, surprising the Bruins who called a timeout 2:57 into the game. The timeout didn't slow up the Tigers, as the team worked its way up to a seven-point lead off a three from junior Addie Micir at 12:53.
The Bruins then went on a 12-2 run to take a 22-19 lead. Edwards ended Princeton's nearly five minute scoring drought with a steal and a layup at 6:21 and added another basket a minute later to tie the game at 24 apiece with 5:31 to play. She would close out the first frame with 11 points on her stat line.
Princeton scored the game's next seven points to make it 31-24 with 2:30 to play. The Bruins closed out the first half, with five points to enter the locker room with Princeton leading by a basket 31-29.
The teams opened the second half trading six baskets as Princeton held a 37-35 lead at 17:13. Darxia Morris tied the game at 37 and gave the Bruins the lead on a layup the next time down the court.
UCLA worked its way up to its largest lead at eight points, 51-43 at 7:27, before the Tigers, sparked by an Edwards bucket, went on a 7-0 run to make it a one-point game, 51-50 at 6:50. During that stretch, Edwards accounted for five points, and freshman Kate Miller had two.
UCLA scored nine points in the next 1:56 while Princeton got four points from Rasheed during that stretch to make it 60-54 in favor of the Bruins.
Micir nailed a three pointer at 3:09, but the Bruins answered with a long ball of their own on their next possession. Both teams exchanged 2-for-2 shooting at the free-throw line to make it 65-59 with 2:05 to play. A three by Erica Tukiainen at 1:19 followed by a free throw from Markel Walker gave UCLA a double-digit lead, 69-59, and the score would stand.
Princeton finished the game shooting 37.3 percent (22-59). The Tigers only missed two of their free throws, shooting at a rate of 84.6 percent (11-13) and was 17.4 percent from long range. In addition to Edwards and Rasheed, sophomore Laura Johnson had seven points, while Micir and freshman Devona Allgood had six points. Allgood also had three rebounds, two blocks and one steal. Junior Krystal Hill and Micir also had three rebounds.
UCLA, which improves to 4-1, was paced by Walker who picked up a double double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Moniquee Alexander added 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Doreena Campbell dished out six assists. The Bruins shot 46 percent (29-63) from the floor and 69.2 percent (9-13) from long range.
Princeton now 3-1 on the season, will make the hour trip down the 405 to take on UC Irvine on Friday, Nov. 27. Tip off is set for 2 p.m., PST.