Inexperience costs w. hoops in 64-38 loss to Lehigh

A tight start can sometimes be converted into enough sweat and determination to pull out a win. Close games can lead to dramatic and memorable finishes. To get to the exciting end, however, and finish up with a mark in the win column, everything must go perfectly. Any advantage can prove crucial.

A neck-and-neck game requires both mental toughness and team solidarity, things that generally come with experience — a quality that the women's basketball team, with only three returning upperclassmen — simply doesn't yet have.

This disadvantage ended up costing Princeton the game in a 64-38 loss to Lehigh last night.

With three minutes, 23 seconds remaining in the first half and the score 17-15, the Moun-tain Hawks (1-1) forced the collapse of the Tigers' valiant efforts as the Mountain Hawks went on a 12-point run to finish the half.

Lehigh's Anne Tierney — who finished the game with 14 points and 12 rebounds for her second-straight double double — chipped in for six of those points.

Princeton (0-1) never recovered from the disappointing end to the first half of its season opener and first game under the direction of new head coach Kevin Morris.

Sophomore Alison Cahill led the Tiger offense with 11 points.

The Tigers are going to have to count on continued scoring from Cahill, along with several other Princeton players, as they head to Corvallis, Ore., to play Oregon State this weekend and then compete in the Oregon State Tournament.