Women's hoops travels to La. before returning to face Penn

The women's basketball team has a lofty wish list this holiday season.

Beginning Dec. 19 against Nicholls State, the Tigers hope to finish off their non-league play with victories against the Lady Colonels, New Orleans, Centenary, and Manhattan.

Then, Princeton (4-3 overall) will play Penn — last year's Ivy champion — to start off the new year. A win against the Quakers would finalize the rebuilding process and illustrate the disparity between last year's 2-25 team and this year's remarkably reformed squad.

Monday, the Tigers will travel south to Louisiana to face Nicholls State. The Lady Colonels' only returning starter is junior Mandy Broussar — a six-foot, two-inch forward who is also threatening from the three-point line.

Five freshmen and a junior transfer are new assets to Nicholls State, a team that currently holds a 3-3 record. Of the three losses, the most notable was a 79-55 slaughter by New Orleans, whom the Tigers will face on Dec. 19 at the Lake Front Arena.

New Orleans will be a challenging team to beat. The Lady Privateers are just 3-6 overall and have lost their last three games, but two of those losses were to the large state schools Nebraska and Mississippi State.

Princeton will have to keep a close eye on potential Grinch, senior Jessica Dunham, who started all 29 games for the Privateers last season. Dunham led the team in scoring (9.8 ppg), rebounding (5.3 rpg), and blocked shots (1.3 bpg) and with her 1.3 blocks per game, is once again ranked third in the Sun Belt Conference.

Two days after hitting the Big Easy, the Tigers will play yet another Louisiana school, Centenary, which has a 4-6 record so far this season.

Centenary is the only Sun Belt team that has competed against an Ivy League opponent, losing soundly to Cornell, 71-51. A solid victory against Centenary would indicate that the Tigers should be able to play with the Big Red when the two teams meet in Ithaca, N.Y., Feb. 2.

Finally, Princeton will return east for its last non-league game against Manhattan Dec. 28. The Lady Jaspers have had early success this season, mostly because four of the five starters are returning players, three of whom were the top scorers last year.

Manhattan's star forward from the 2000-2001 season, Brita Hinkle, is no longer on the team, and it now runs a three-guard rotation.

As past games have shown, executing the half-court trap has been Princeton's strength, while guarding the inside players has been its glaring weakness. The Tigers' half-court trap will make it difficult for Manhattan's guard-centered formation to get points on the board.

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The Louisiana jaunt will be a pleasant holiday diversion, but the roundup of Princeton's rigorous holiday schedule will take place at Penn on Jan. 4.

The Quakers have not been performing like the perennial Ivy champs they are so far this season. Their record in non-Ivy play is an unimpressive 3-6. They grabbed their first two victories early in the season against Hofstra and Army, and went on to lose their next six consecutive games before edging Villanova, 69-62, last Tuesday night.

Nevertheless, the Tigers cannot jump to any conclusions about this year's Penn team. The Quakers have been playing a competitive preseason schedule against tough Philadelphia Big 5 squads such as St. Joseph's. And their most recent loss was to Tulane, one of the few New Orleans area teams the Tigers will not visit on their trip South. The Green Wave are ranked No. 25 nationally.

Princeton's holiday will be no walk in a winter wonderland. But with the renewed sense of confidence the team has gained by virtue of its improved play this season, the Tigers will likely be able to perform at a high level and take the first step away from that looming black coal of defeat this holiday season.