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Women's basketball splits weekend contests

When the women's basketball team knocked off Harvard two weeks ago, Princeton asserted itself as a contender for the Ivy League title. With games Fri-day and Satur-day at Harvard and Dartmouth, the firstand second-place teams in the Ivies, the Tigers had to prove themselves once again.

Entering the weekend deadlocked with Dartmouth and Penn for second place and trailing Harvard by two games, Princeton knew it needed two wins to keep its slim hopes of an Ivy title alive.

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Now, the Tigers' small chance is an all but impossible one.

A narrow 58-52 defeat at Harvard (20-3 overall, 10-1 Ivy League) Friday leaves Princeton (13-10, 7-4) three games back of the Crimson with just three games remaining in the season.

"It's definitely disappointing to be out of it now, because I don't think Harvard will lose its last three games," sophomore guard Maggie Langlas said. "Our goal now is certainly second place. Although it's tough to not be in it anymore, we have improved a lot from last year."

With a 51-47 victory over Dartmouth (13-10, 7-4) Saturday, coupled with two Penn (11-12, 6-5) losses to the Crimson and the Big Green, the Tigers now have the remainder of the season to fight Dartmouth for second. With games next weekend against the cellar-dwellers of the league, Columbia and Cornell, and a Dartmouth-Harvard matchup to close out the year, second place looks like a good bet for the Tigers.

First place, however, was almost within Princeton's grasp Friday. After leading 32-26 at halftime, the Tigers' offense abandoned them in the second half. The team shot an abysmal 25.9 percent (7 for 27) over the last 20 minutes, including going the final eight minutes, 48 seconds without a field goal. The Tigers held a 45-40 lead with 10:53 remaining before they went cold.

Tyson-Holyfield

"It was a well-fought game until the last five minutes," Langlas said. "Our defense helped us out the entire second half when we weren't shooting well. We didn't get many shots off in the last five minutes. We had some turnovers on key possessions at the end."

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Sophomore forward Kate Thirolf paced Princeton with 17 points, and junior forward Julie Angell had a solid game with 11 points, eight rebounds and seven steals, not to mention that she had to guard Harvard's All-American forward Allison Feaster. Angell held Feaster to just seven points in the first half before the two-time Ivy Player of the Year erupted for 20 second-half points.

'A great challenge'

"It is a lot of fun to play her, and a great challenge," Angell said. "I did a good job of denying her the ball in the first half, so she didn't get many shots. In the second half, she got the ball more, and got some three-point plays and some easy buckets. We did a good job defensively on her and the team. We just needed to score more points."

Princeton's defense was again stellar against Dartmouth. The Tigers held the Big Green's leading scorer, Courtney Banghart, scoreless and held the team without a three-pointer for the first time in 90 games.

The split over the weekend leaves the Tigers in second place with three games left, a vast improvement from last year's 7-19 team, which tied for fifth place.

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