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Men’s and women’s basketball sweep weekend doubleheader against Columbia and Cornell

This past weekend was a great one for Princeton men’s (9–8, 2–1 Ivy League) and women’s (13–3, 0–3) basketball. Both teams went undefeated in their opening Ivy League weekend at home in Jadwin Gymnasium against Columbia on Friday and Cornell on Saturday. The women’s team won 69–47 over Columbia (6–11, 0–2) and 75–54 over Cornell (4–11, 0–2), while the men won 72–56 and 91–54 over the Lions (3–12, 0–2) and the Big Red (6–9, 0–2), respectively. 

This weekend the women’s team was sparked by a balanced offense and strong defense. On both nights, Princeton had four players in double figures. Against Cornell, sophomore guard/forward Bella Alarie led the way with 18 points, followed by junior guard Gabrielle Rush and freshman guard Abby Meyers with 11 points each off the bench. And finally, freshman guard Carlie Littlefield added 10 points on an off shooting night for her. On Saturday, the four players in double figures were senior forward Leslie Robinson with 16, Alarie with 14, Rush with 11, and Meyers with 10. The Tigers played great defense this weekend as well holding opponents to 10 or fewer points in four of the eight quarters. Most notable moments of this were when Princeton held Columbia scoreless for the first 4:23 of the game and first 3:23 of the second half. A strong defensive start to the second half was what sparked the win against Cornell as well, when the Tigers held the Big Red scoreless for the first five minutes of the half. 

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The men’s team this weekend was led well by junior guard Devin Cannady and some sharp three-point shooting. Cannady had a game high of 17 points against the Lions on Friday night and a game high of 20 points against Cornell on Saturday. As for the accurate shooting from beyond the arc, this is nothing new, having been an important part of Princeton’s success last year as well. Against Columbia, Princeton made 15 of 31 threes, shooting nearly 50 percent from behind the line. On Saturday, the Tigers made 10 of 27 threes, shooting about 40 percent from downtown. Offensive prowess was certainly on display in Jadwin for the men this past weekend as they shot over 40 percent from the field for the ninth and 10th straight times. This was perhaps aided by the defensive success Princeton experienced, which was able to hold back-to-back opponents under 40 percent shooting for the first time this season. 

The basketball teams will take their finals break now and will next return to Ivy League play Feb. 2 and 3. Both teams will take on Yale and Brown, with the men playing at home and the women going on the road to New Haven and Providence. Before that weekend, the men will play their last non-conference game against Rowan on Jan. 28 at home. 

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