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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Penn
Players Mentioned
Princeton Takes Down Penn in Season Finale, 72-55
March 10, 2009 | Women's Basketball
PHILADELPHIA (3/10/09) ? Senior Whitney Downs scored 23 points, one basket shy of a career high to lead the Princeton women's basketball team to a 72-55 win over Penn in the regular season finale.
Sophomore Addie Micir had 14 points, while freshmen Devona Allgood and Lauren Edwards contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively. Edwards and Allgood were also the team leaders under the basket combining for 15 of the team's 37 boards. Edwards and senior Jessica Berry had four assists apiece and junior Cheryl Stevens collected two blocks.
Princeton jumped out to a 16-8 lead five minutes into the first half, draining four of six three-point attempts, two from Micir and two from Downs. Penn scored its first four points from the free throw line and finally got a basket from the field at 16:10.
The Quakers brought the game within two, going on an 8-2 run in the next five minutes to make it 18-16 at 10:33.
After Micir's third basket from long range, the Tigers went cold as the Quakers rattled off nine unanswered to take the lead, 25-21, with 5:28 to play. Freshman Laura Johnson added a three pointer to end the drought and bring the game within one and a minute later she added another three to regain the lead for the Tigers.
Princeton scored two of the final three points of the half to take a 29-26 lead into the locker room.
The Tigers came out and scored eight to Penn's two, to go up by nine, 37-28, at 16:10. The two teams traded baskets in the next five minutes to give Princeton a 41-34 lead with 11:44 to play. Less than a minute later, Micir gave the Tigers' a double-digit advantage with a three pointer.
Princeton worked its way up to a 12-point lead, 48-42 before Penn scored six straight to bring its deficit back to single digits. The Tigers responded with a 14-11 run over the next four minutes to take a 13-point lead, 62-49 with 4:21 on the clock.
The teams traded a couple of baskets before Allgood dropped in a layup to give Princeton a 15-point advantage, 68-53 with two minutes to go. Downs tallied four free throws to close out Princeton's scoring while Penn got two from the line to settle the score, 72-55.
Princeton shot 44.3 percent from the field, 69.2 percent from the free throw line and 42.9 from behind the arc. The team had two more rebounds than Penn, who finished the night with a 40.4 shooting percentage. The team went 9-for-18 from the charity stripe and was 25 percent from long range.
Carrie Biemer led the Quakers with 21 points and Katarina Lackner had nine, all of which came in the first half. Sarah Bucar chipped in seven points and Erin Powers had six. Caitlin Slover grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and Bucar added five.
“In the first half we went to the free throw line twice, and we knew we had to be more aggressive,” Coach Banghart said. “In the second half we had a relentless pursuit on the offensive end and did a better job at locking up Lackner offensively.
Our Achilles heel all season was winning close games and I knew our seniors wouldn't leave us without the confidence of winning close games. Our win over Columbia on Friday and today's game left the rest of the team knowing we can execute down the stretch.
These seniors certainly left this program better than they found it and for that I'll forever be grateful.”
Princeton finishes the season 14-14 overall winning its last five games, and with a 9-5 mark in the Ivy League. Penn finishes 9-19 overall and 6-8 in league play.