Downward slide continues for women's hoops against Ivy foes

With eight seconds left in regulation and the Tigers trailing, 67-64, junior Allison Cahill threw up a desperate shot from the three-point line. And made it.

In the five minutes of overtime that would follow, the women's basketball team fell just short of beating Yale Saturday night amid the piercing squeals of the record-breaking 3,067 crowd at Jadwin Gym.

But despite the 85-80 loss, the electricity on the court displayed by both teams was a perfect demonstration of what was being celebrated this weekend by thousands of wide-eyed adolescent girls — Women in Sport.

At first the Tigers, shooting 40 percent from the three-point line in the first half, struggled to keep up with the Bulldogs, who shot 73 percent.

But in the end three-pointers were the ammunition that kept Princeton in the game.

With one minute to play in the first half, sophomore Kelly Schaeffer dropped a three-pointer, closing the gap to 35-32 at the buzzer. That was the beginning of a nine-minute, three-point barrage that would give the Tigers the lead.

Senior Lauren Rigney opened the second half by scoring a three-point basket at the 17 minute mark, followed by two consecutive three-pointers by freshman Karen Bolster, which brought Princeton within one point of Yale, 42-41.

Then stepped in junior Maureen Lane, who added another two three-pointers and tied the score 47-47 with 12 minutes left in regulation. The Tigers scored 18 points in nine minutes – all from outside the arc.

With 2:30 remaining, sophomore Kelly Schaeffer put in yet another three points – opening the way for Cahill's buzzer-beater to tie the game.

In every contest there must be a winner, and it was Yale that pulled ahead in overtime. Despite the loss, the Tigers were relativley satisfied with thir performance.

"Although we didn't win, we played real well and with a lot of intensity and hopefully we can play that way for the remainder of the season," Schaeffer said. She scored a career-best 28 points on the night.

Particularly remarkable was the fact that this game came on the heels of a 65-56 loss to Brown at Jadwin Friday night.

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Against the Bears, Princeton committed 24 turnovers and shot only 25 percent from the arc, in contrast to Brown's 60 percent three-point mark.

Schaeffer scored a team-high 16 points, followed by Bolster's 13, but neither could bring the Tigers ahead to victory.

To put the loss behind them, and as Schaeffer said, "to show how good [they] can be when [they] want to be," head coach Richard Barron and assistant coaches Robyne Bostick and Jen Scanlon put together a highlight tape from earlier Ivy League games.

"That helped to get us on the same page and to fire us up, which set the tone for the way we would play just a few hours later [against Yale]," Schaeffer said.

The coaches' efforts at confidence-building certainly made the difference between Friday night's 56-point offensive breakdown and Saturday's 80-point revival.

The Tigers will not return Jadwin until Mar. 1 for a rematch against Cornell.