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Women’s basketball recap: Tigers win 5th straight, continue to climb in standings

Women's basketball knew that if they were going to have a shot at winning the regular season title, they would have to steal some wins on the road. This weekend proved that they had the talent and mindset to go into enemy territory and walk out with a win.

The women’s basketball team took to the road this Friday and Saturday and won both games — marking the first time this season they've won two consecutive road games. Facing Cornell and Columbia, the Tigers relied on stellar defense and reliable offense to pull out wins in front of hostile crowds.

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In Friday’s contest against Cornell, Princeton outlasted the Big Red by holding them scoreless over the final 2:36 of the game. The Tigers used a 14-0 run in the beginning of the second half to put themselves in position to play defense to win, despite trailing by as much as 12 in the second half. Key for Princeton late in the game was a 3-pointer by senior captain Taylor Brown, halting a Cornell run that was tearing Princeton’s lead down. The field goal was scored off of an offensive rebound by freshman Bella Alarie; the Tigers have put emphasis on offensive boards throughout the season to make plays and generate energy.

Junior Leslie Robinson led the team with 12 rebounds as the team — for the first time on their win streak — did not outrebound its opponent (each team had 39 boards). Alarie and sophomore Gabrielle Rush led the team with 21 and 13 points respectively — the only double digit scorers for the Tigers this game. Princeton’s 58-54 win continues their recent domination over Cornell; the Tigers have now won 17 consecutive games against the Big Red, dating back to nearly nine years ago.

On Saturday, the Tigers traveled to Levien Gymnasium in New York City to take on Columbia, where they defeated the Lions 62-52. Unlike Friday’s game, which featured only two double digit scorers for the Tigers, Saturday’s game saw four Tigers score in double digits: Robinson (14), Alarie (11), Brown (10), and Smith (10). The Tigers started strong, preventing Columbia from scoring for the first two minutes of the game and the final five minutes of the first half. During these two runs, the Tigers outscored the Lions 22-0 as they took a 38-16 lead into the half.

Princeton, once again, was awesome on defense, outrebounding yet another opponent (42-39) and blocking seven shots. Perhaps the most notable aspect of its defense was holding the leading scorer of the Ivy League — Columbia’s Camille Zimmerman — to only five points and 2/10 shooting in the first half. Despite scoring 24 points in the game, the Tigers prevented Zimmerman from taking over, as she had done in many games prior.

With the two road wins, the Tigers jumped to a tie in second with Harvard at the close of Saturday’s action. Currently, they are at 5-2 and trail Harvard, which won Sunday, by half of a game and undefeated Penn. The Tigers will get another crack at both teams in the coming weeks.

Next weekend, the Tigers have another road trip, traveling this time to New England to take on the Yale Bulldogs on Feb. 17 and the Brown Bears on Feb. 18. The Tigers will look to sweep Yale this season and extract revenge against Brown, which defeated the Tigers 98-88 earlier this year.

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