Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Delaware
Women's Basketball Improves to 11-0 With 87-59 Win Over Delaware
December 17, 2014 | Women's Basketball
NEWARK, Del. – Annie Tarakchian poured in a game-high 22 points to help the Princeton University women's basketball team to an 87-59 road win over the University of Delaware.
Improving to 9-16 all-time against the Blue Hens, the Tigers extended their Ivy League-record start to 11-0.
Going 7-for-10 from the field and 5-for-6 from three, Tarakchian finished one point shy of matching her career-high of 23 set against Montana earlier this season. Her seven made baskets and five triples were both personal-bests. Dishing out a career-high 10 assists, Blake Dietrick also had 12 points and five boards. Michelle Miller and Vanessa Smith chipped in with 16 and 10 points, respectively.
Scoring Princeton's first seven points, Tarakchian helped the Tigers to a slim one-point lead at the first media timeout. With the Orange and Black down 13-12 after an Erika Brown layup, Dietrick converted a three-point play the old-fashioned way to put the visitors back in front.
After a Tarakchian triple stretched the Tiger lead to five, Courtni Green ducked into the paint for two to trim the Delaware deficit to 18-15. Coming right back down, Tarakchian buried another trey to stake Princeton to a six-point advantage.
With the Blue Hens battling back to within one on a Joy Caracciolo bucket just inside of the eight-minute mark, the Tigers pieced together a 9-2 run. Amanda Berntsen and V. Smith got things started with back-to-back layups before Caracciolo connected down low to make it 30-27. Leslie Robinson then converted a three-point play before Taylor Williams sealed off her defender for an easy two, upping the margin to eight.
Ahead by six with less than two minutes left in the first, Princeton closed out the half on an 8-2 run. Berntsen once again kickstarted the stretch by finishing off a fastbreak with a three-point play. Miller then dialed one in from long distance before a Brown jumper momentarily stemmed the Tiger tide. Mariah Smith capped off the spurt with a layup with 46 seconds on the clock.
Looking to pad the Princeton cushion, Dietrick opened up the second half scoring with a three-pointer. Beating her defender off the dribble, Berntsen knifed into the paint for two more on the Tigers' next possession to push the lead to 17. After five straight Delaware points pared the margin to 12, V. Smith drove the lane for two to make it 52-38.
Trailing by 17 with under 14 minutes to play, Hannah Jardine and Green hit consecutive triples to suddenly pull the Blue Hens within 11. With the home team still down 11 after another Green basket at 11:11, Princeton rattled off a 9-2 run.
Banking in a turnaround, Tarakchian snapped a nearly three-minute Princeton field goal drought. The junior then hit her fifth trey of the game to put the Tigers back up by 16. After a Green layup cut it to 66-52, Dietrick netted four-straight points to stake Princeton to an 18-point edge with 8:59 remaining in regulation.Â
Up by as much as 29 in the second half, Princeton shot 50.0 percent (32-64) from the floor and 61.1 percent (11-18) from behind the arc. Holding a 40-34 rebounding edge, the Tigers helped force 18 turnovers.
After shooting 50.0 percent in the first half, Delaware hit just 29.4 percent (10-34) of its shot attempts in the second period, finishing the game 25-for-64 (39.1 percent) from the field. Green paced the Blue Hens with 18 points, while Caracciolo and Jardine had 14 and 12, respectively.
Princeton returns to action on Friday, Dec. 19 against Portland State.
