After notching a win against Tennessee-Martin at home on Wednesday, things went downhill for the women's basketball team as they headed to California after Thanksgiving to play in the Stanford Invitational.
On Wednesday, the Tigers cruised to a 92-74 win against Tennessee-Martin at Jadwin Gym, highlighted by shooting an impressive 52 percent from three-point range. Once in Stanford, Calif., however, the Tigers suffered two crushing defeats — a 95-39 loss to Stanford on Friday, and a 70-40 loss to Temple on Saturday.
On Wednesday night, the Tigers had the UTM offense figured out right from the outset. The Skyhawks went 0-for-8 from three-point range in the first half, and only managed to put up 24 points in the first half, while the Tigers put up 43.
The Tiger offense had a terrific day, scoring the most points in a single game since a 97-92 triple overtime victory over Brown nearly 15 years ago.
Senior wing Maureen Lane led the Tigers with 17 points, going 3-for-6 from three-point range. Sophomore guard Karen Bolster, junior post Kelly Schaeffer, and senior guard Allison Cahill also scored in the double digits. The offense shot 56 percent from the field, with a 52 percent performance from three-point range.
The Tigers held a comfortable lead throughout most of the game, and improved their record to 2-1 on the season, before their trip to the West Coast.
After not playing a single ranked opponent last season, taking on No. 7 Stanford in the Tigers' fourth game of the season seemed to have trouble written all over it.
Two minutes and 14 seconds into the game, Schaeffer sunk a three-pointer to bring the score to 4-3 — the closest it would be all game. After Schaeffer's bucket, Stanford went on 31-0 rampage, which was finally halted 10 minutes later by Cahill's three-pointer, assisted by junior guard Mary Cate Opila.
The Tigers then began to show signs of life, matching the Cardinal score-for-score up until the half. Four different Tigers scored before finishing the half at 47-17, Stanford. The Tigers shot a disheartening 19 percent from the field.
The second half was only a little bit better for the Tigers, as they scored 22 points against the tough Cardinal defense. The Tigers improved their shot percentage, scoring on 28 percent of shots taken from the field. Stanford, however, never missed a step, putting up 48 points in the second half.
Cahill led the Tigers with 10 points while Lane finished with nine points and three steals. Stanford recorded their largest margin of victory since beating Sacramento State by 58 points in 1995. The Cardinal also set a new school record in rebounding margin by outboarding the Tigers, 62-27.
The game gave the Tigers a long-awaited taste of topnotch college basketball, and will hopefully give them a good idea of where to improve for the Ivy League season.
In the consolation game on Saturday, Temple did most of its damage to the Tigers on fast break opportunities, scoring 30 fast break points off of 22 Princeton turnovers.
Despite an early 6-0 Temple lead, the Tigers came back, and tied the game at 10-10 on Schaeffer's bucket. But once again, the Tigers fell victim to an early double-digit run, as the Owls scored the game's next 12 points.
Temple went on to claim a 34-18 lead by halftime, boasting a 48 percent shooting percentage from the field. The Tigers shot 33 percent from the field, but were hurt most by going 0-for-8 from three-point range.
The Owls continued to outplay the Tigers in the second half, finishing the game at 70-40, with three players scoring in the double digits.
One bright spot for the Tigers was freshman post Rebecca Brown's performance against the Owls. Brown registered her first career double-double, with 17 points and 11 rebounds on the day. Brown was the only Tiger to reach the free throw line.
Brown's continued improvement and the team's experience against tough opponents this past weekend will serve the Tigers well over the course of the season. The Tigers return home this week to take on Centenary and Sacred Heart in Jadwin Gym.
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