Inconsistent play drowns w. hoops in weekend losses

"We thought this was going to be our coming out game — a chance to prove ourselves against a challenging team," senior captain Maureen Lane said following the women's basketball game against Dartmouth on Friday.

"But at least we have a chance to prove ourselves tomorrow night against Harvard," she added.

It turned out to be a good weekend for Lane, with her 16 points and eight rebounds against Dartmouth and her double-double, 20-point, 12-rebound performance against Harvard.

Junior forward Kelly Schaeffer and freshman center Rebecca Brown also excelled both nights. Schaeffer scored 22 points on Friday and 10 on Saturday, while Brown added 10 and 15, respectively.

Princeton's two losses drop it to 3-6 in the Ivy League, 8-15 overall. The Tigers are currently fifth in the League standings.

For the team as a whole, the games against Dartmouth and Harvard, the respective thirdand first-place teams in the Ivy League, were continuations of what has plagued the team all year — inconsistency from one half to the next.

The Tigers lost to Dartmouth by 16 points, 77-61, after a neck-and-neck halftime score of 28-26. Immediately in the second half, Princeton showed a marked deterioration in intensity that lingered until the last five minutes, when it was too late.

"We gave it away at the beginning of the second half," Brown said. "We came out slowly and started getting complacent, and before we knew it we were 20 points behind."

The Big Green, on the other hand, following a first-half 11 for 28 field goal performance, caught fire in the second, shooting an incredible 65.4 percent from the field compared with the Tigers' 39.3 percent.

The Princeton defense could not seem to plug Dartmouth's powerful posts, including center Katharine Hanks, who led both teams in scoring with 24 points.

On offense, Princeton did an admirable job of cracking Dartmouth's ruthless full-court press. But when the Tigers crossed half court, they struggled to get the ball in the hoop off the transition. "We were tentative, not capitalizing on the opportunities we made for ourselves under pressure," Lane said.

A powerful finale by Lane and Schaeffer in the last three minutes could not save the Tigers. The two alternated baskets, starting with a three-pointer by Lane and a baseline drive by Schaeffer. Lane answered with a cross-court layup, then Schaeffer scored again, and finally Lane sunk two in a row, the first off an offensive rebound and the second off a quick release from downtown.

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Meanwhile, the Big Green kept up the pace, scoring eight points of its own to clinch the victory.

A Crimson clobbering

The following night against Harvard, the Tigers were again inconsistent. They were down, 24-37, at the break, but then outscored the Crimson in the second half, shooting 44 percent from the field and scoring 36 points next to Harvard's 35.

Turnovers are what killed Princeton, as has been the case in several other games this season.

"In a tie when we needed to shoot we would turn the ball over," Brown said. "That's been the story of our season almost — not just certain players but the whole team turning the ball over too much."

Harvard's forward Hana Peljto led the Crimson with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Center Reka Cserny, at six-feet, three-inches in height, finished with 15 points. But it wasn't just tall forwards that put the game away for Harvard. Guard Beverly Moore, at five-feet-two, chipped in 13 points.

With the win, Harvard stays perfect in the Ivy League, raising its record to 10-0 in conference play and 18-4 overall.

Princeton returns to action next weekend when it hosts last-place Yale and second-place Brown at Jadwin Gym.

With only five contests left to play in the regular season, now is the time for a "coming out" game.

"Our problem right now is that we want to win so much that we think about it too much instead of letting our instincts go and playing basketball," Brown said. "We have to find the balance between doing what we are supposed to do and doing what we know how to do."