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Princeton University
Charlotte
Players Mentioned
Women's Basketball Wins Seventh Straight With 73-43 Victory Over Charlotte
November 30, 2014 | Women's Basketball
BOX SCORE
VIDEO HIGLIGHTS
CANCUN, Mexico – The Princeton University women's basketball team extended its win streak to seven games with a 73-43 victory over the University of North Carolina-Charlotte at the 2014 Cancun Challenge.
Capturing the Mayan Division crown with wins over Wake Forest, Montana and Charlotte, the Tigers trailed for a total of just 47 seconds in three games. Improving to 7-0 on the season, Princeton is now off to the best start in program history, surpassing the previous mark of six consecutive victories held by the 2011-12, 1974-75 and 1977-78 squads.
Hitting 6-of-9 field goal attempts, Alex Wheatley finished with 12 points and three boards, while Amanda Berntsen had 12 points, five rebounds and four assists. Vanessa Smith was the only other Tiger to score in double digits with 11 points. Annie Tarakchian chipped in with nine points and eight rebounds, while Blake Dietrick finished with eight points, five assists and three boards.
Averaging 14.3 points and 10.0 rebounds in three games, Tarakchian earned Tournament MVP honors for her efforts. Shooting 66.7 percent (12-of-18) from the field and 61.5 percent from three (8-of-13) she was 91.7 percent (11-of-12) from the free throw line. Averaging 10.7 points, 3.7 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game while shooting 41.4 percent (12-of-29) from the floor and 41.4 percent (7-of-15) from long distance, Dietrick also earned a spot on the All-Tournament squad.
Once again getting off to a fast start, Princeton carved out an 8-5 margin on a Wheatley layup at 15:38. Coming right back, Charlotte's Hillary Sigmon and Ayanna Holmes connected on back-to-back jumpers to put the 49ers on top. Trailing for the first time since the opening seconds of their Cancun Challenge opener against the Demon Deacons, the Tigers responded with a 13-2 run over the next four-plus minutes.
Taylor Williams got the stretch started with a basket at 13:37 before a Tarakchian three-pointer put the Orange and Black up 13-9. After a Kenya Olley bucket, Tarakchian drained another triple to make it 16-11. Smith then went 1-for-2 from the charity stripe before a Dietrick layup and a pair of Williams free throws capped off the Tigers' spurt.
With Charlotte battling back to within eight on a Kira Gordon free throw inside of the seven-minute mark, Princeton closed out the half on an 18-6 run. Smith netted four of the run's first five points before two Amanda Berntsen free throws at 5:12 made it 30-15. Later up 17, Dietrick found Berntsen for a transition layup before a Tarakchian trey from the left wing staked the Tigers to a 41-19 advantage.
Hoping to cut into the Princeton lead, Charlotte netted the first four points of the second half to pull within 41-25. Responding with another dominant stretch, Princeton netted 22 of the game's next 29 points to put the game out of reach.
Shooting a blistering 64.0 percent (16-25) in the first half, the Tigers knocked down 12-of-30 (40.0 percent) field goals in the final 20 minutes, leading by as much as 35 with less than five minutes remaining in regulation. Finishing with a slim 36-35 rebounding edge, Princeton held Charlotte to just 28.3 percent (15-of-53) shooting which included a 16.7 percent (3-of-18) clip from behind the arc.
The Tigers return to action on Saturday, Dec. 6 against Georgetown.