At this point in the season it is no longer make-or-break.
Playing this weekend to hold on to fifth place in the Ivy League, the more appropriate term for the women's basketball team's situation is salvage-or-junk.
The Tigers (9-16 overall, 4-7 Ivy League) will take on Cornell (9-16, 3-9) tonight in Ithaca, and then travel to Columbia to face the Lions (10-15, 3-9) Saturday night.
Both Cornell and Columbia are currently locked in a three-way tie for sixth place with Yale, just a game and a half behind the Tigers. With two wins by either of those teams or two losses by Princeton this weekend, the Tigers could lose their fifth place spot and potentially fall to last place in the Ivy League.
Of course, the odds of that happening are not likely. Yale will be facing an undefeated Harvard team as well as second-place Dartmouth this weekend. Both Columbia and Cornell will take on fourth place Penn in their non-Princeton match of the weekend.
And besides, the Tigers are set on victory.
"We're optimistic about this weekend," junior guard Mary Cate Opila said. "We beat Cornell once already and believe we should be able to give Columbia a run for their money."
The Tigers last faced Cornell a month ago at Jadwin Gym on National Girls and Women in Sports Day. After being down 37-26 at the half, Princeton treated their fans to a large second half rally that resulted in a 66-63 Tiger win.
Junior guard Kelly Schaeffer and freshman post Rebecca Brown both had big days against Cornell. Brown scored 18 points and pulled down eight rebounds against the Big Red. Schaeffer shot 69 percent from the field, going 4-of-6 from three-point range. Schaeffer's last score of the day gave the Tigers a four-point lead with just a minute remaining in the game.
Princeton outscored the Big Red by a 40-26 margin in the second half of the game. The difference between the second half resulted primarily from better rebounding and preventing turnovers.
"We all recognized that we needed to take it one possession at a time," Brown said after the game. "We only made something like three turnovers in the second half, which is a huge improvement on our previous performances."
As for the boards, the Tigers' first half performance was dismal, as they allowed Cornell to hold a 25-10 advantage in rebounding. Princeton outrebounded the Big Red, 19-18, in the second half and this improvement made an enormous difference.
Saturday night, Princeton will look for revenge against Columbia, who beat the Tigers, 75-66, in an earlier contest this year.
The Tigers were evenly matched with the Lions — the two teams exchanged score for score throughout the first half of play, with both teams shooting 50 percent from the field.
Columbia held the lead for much of the second half, but Princeton managed to tie the game with eight minutes, 20 seconds remaining in the game. Columbia, however, then proceeded to go on a 14-5 run, squashing the Tigers' hopes for a victory.
The key to Princeton's success against Columbia will lie on the Tigers' ability to execute their offense. This has been a volatile aspect of the Tigers' game, which will be all the difference agains thte Big Red.
In their previous encounter, the Tigers committed 25 turnovers against the Lions. Princeton has been working on a set-play based offense this season with mixed results. Against good defenses, the Tigers still have problems with giving up too many turnovers and, on the whole, the team is averaging slightly more than 20 per game.
Princeton's offense, however, has been constantly improving and should run more smoothly in the rematch. If their offense is on, the Tigers should have no problem holding onto a fifth place, continuing a steady improvement process embarked upon two years ago.
"We have three games left, and a chance to finish .500 in the Ivy League season," Opila said. "Last year, we ended on a really good note, and we want to do the same this year, so we can go into the offseason with a winning streak."
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