Women's basketball gets third win, first loss at Husky Classic in Seattle

The women's basketball team came into last weekend undefeated, 2-0, and travelled 3000 miles to defend its perfection at the Seattle Times Husky Classic on the University of Washington campus. In games against Northeastern and Santa Clara, the Tigers finished with a 1-1 record.

Though the team fell short of the goal of perfection, Princeton has now eclipsed its 2000-2001 mark of two wins, compiling a 3-1 record on the year, a much more attractive figure than last year's 2-25.

Senior forward Lauren Rigney was named to the all-tournament team with totals of 36 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, and one steal over Princeton's two games.

Saturday night, in their second game of the weekend, the Tigers defeated Northeastern (1-3) in the consolation game of the tournament. Princeton came out of the gate with a bang as it ran all over Northeastern to take a 45-31 halftime lead, racking up 14 points off free throws along the way.

Late in the game, however, the Huskies mounted a comeback. Melissa Kowalski, who led Northeastern with 19 points, posted nine of them in a one minute, 22 second stretch during the second half comeback.

After trailing by as many as 17, the Huskies fought their way back and were leading for the first time, 80-79, with 33 seconds to play. Then junior guard Allison Cahill hit a jumper for Princeton with only 22.2 seconds showing on the clock, giving the Tigers a lead they would never relinquish. Rigney, the only senior on the squad, finally iced the game with a free throw. The final score was 82-80.

After abandoning the methodical "Princeton offense" that the Tigers ran last year, the new "run-and-gun" style offense installed by first year head coach Richard Barron was clicking on all cylinders as four Tigers finished the night scoring in double figures. Freshman guard Karen Bolster led all players in the contest with 20 points off the bench, making 4 of 6 from beyond the three-point arc.

However, the tournament did not start out on Friday night as well as it ended for the Tigers on Saturday. In the opening game of the tournament, Santa Clara (3-1) blew out the Tigers with a balanced offense and a stifling defense.

Santa Clara featured an offensive attack in which no player scored more than 10 points, but was able to keep Princeton at least 13 points behind the entire second half.

The Broncos finished the game with four players scoring in double digits to Princeton's one. Rigney provided Princeton's lone bright spot with six rebounds and a game-high 20 points.

"Lauren Rigney gave us a great game, but obviously we were not ready, we were not focused," Barron said.

Santa Clara's four double-digit scorers did not include tournament MVP Tammy Annas. Annas finished the tournament with 26 points, 18 rebounds and four assists, but she scored only five of those points against the Tigers. Her teammates bailed her out to get the victory, as her fellow four starters all scored at least seven points, and three players came off the bench to score nine or more.

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Princeton had fallen behind, 21-7, when the stadium lights went out in Bank of America Arena. The game was delayed for about eight minutes before the Broncos started firing away on the Tigers once again. When the smoke cleared, Santa Clara had demolished Princeton, 80-52.

"This was a lesson we needed to learn," Barron said. "There was a point in the second half where we made some runs, but even then, we missed a dozen or so free throws. You cannot miss free throws and layups and expect to beat good teams."

In the first half Princeton did not score field goals on consecutive possessions at any time, shooting only 7 for 29.

The Tigers carry their shiny new look and matching 3-1 record into this Saturday's match up at Delaware. The Blue Hens go into the match at 1-1, and are hoping to repeat the kind of season they had last year, when they went 26-5 and gained an NCAA tournament bid.