Women's hoops falls short in Jadwin Gym thriller, 47-43

It was the women's basketball team's best performance of the season. Princeton forced a high-scoring Harvard squad into a deliberate, slow-paced game. But in the end, the Tigers fell one possession short.

Princeton dropped a thrilling 47-43 game to the Crimson at Jadwin Gym last night.

"We played a great game," head coach Liz Feeley said. "We just had some miscues [during] the most important possessions. All we wanted was a good bounce."

With one minute remaining in a tie game, senior guard Maggie Langlas faked a three-point shot from the wing and drove baseline for a layup, giving Princeton a two-point lead.

The Tigers' bench erupted, the crowd roared, and Harvard called a timeout. Princeton needed one defensive stop to seal its biggest win of the year.

For the first 23 seconds of the subsequent Crimson possession the Tigers' swarming defense — which had neutralized Harvard's offense all game — was again suffocating. The Crimson was desperately throwing the ball around the perimeter, trying to find a good look at the basket.

The ball ended up in the hands of senior guard Courtney Egelhoff who launched a 20-foot three-pointer that found the bottom of the net.

Princeton had two chances to tie in the final 30 seconds, but failed both times. Sophomore guard Hillary Reser — who was Princeton's leading scorer on the night with 11 points — missed a three-pointer after Harvard took the lead.

Then — with Princeton down two and under 10 seconds remaining — senior captain Kate Thirolf's pass sailed over the outstretched arms of freshman Allison Cahill, thereby sealing the Tigers' fate.

Princeton played solidly for the other 39 minutes of the game. The Tigers out-rebounded Harvard despite the Crimson's enormous height advantage. They also held Harvard to fewer points in transition than in the teams' first matchup Feb. 12.

"More of our shots were dropping today," Reser said. "Our defense was a lot more solid. We really played a great game."

"This game went the way we wanted to play it," Feeley said.