W. hoops picks up first win in holiday tourney

Quite often, a short stretch of just a few minutes of lopsided play determines the outcome of an otherwise evenly played basketball game. Such has been the case for women's basketball in each of its first three games.

Princeton (1-2 overall) traveled to Nashville over Thanksgiving Break to play in the 14th-annual Vanderbilt Tournament. After opening with a 68-61 loss to Louisville (2-2) on Friday, the Tigers notched their first win of the season, defeating Samford (2-2) on Saturday, 84-58, to take third place.

Against Louisville, as was the case in the season opening loss to Nebraska, Princeton could not overcome a first-half drought that produced an early deficit.

After the game began evenly, the Cardinals exploded for a 21-2 run to take a lead they would not relinquish. The Tigers were responsible for their own demise, missing open shots and throwing the ball away on offense, while failing to box out on defense.

Leading the way for Louisville was point guard Sara Nord, whom the Tigers simply could not stop from scoring. She scored 10 straight points, including three straight three-pointers. Although Princeton closed the deficit to 34-17 at the break, Nord still scored more first half points — 18 — then the entire Tiger team.

"We knew she'd shoot alot from the outside, but we didn't expect them to go in," freshman forward Casey Lockwood said. "When they did, we sort of started freaking out."

The Tigers cut into the gap at the beginning of the second half, scoring the first five points to cut the lead to 12. The Cardinals regained conntrol with a parade to the charity stripe. With eleven minutes left to play, they led by 20.

Princeton refused to concede the game, however, and mounted one last desperate charge. Head coach Richard Barron called for a full-court press, injecting the Tigers with life. Junior forward Lauren Nestor hit three trifectas to spark the run, which slowly chipped away at the Cardinals' advantage.

"With the full-court press, we started getting some steals," Lockwood said. "Everyone got into it and the momentum kept going."

As had been the case in the season opener, Lockwood and fellow freshman forward Katy Digovich were responsible for the bulk of the scoring. Digovich went for 16, while Lockwood chipped in 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Unfortunately, the Princeton push would peak just short of the mountaintop. With 55 seconds left, the Tigers had cut the gap to 62-59, but they would come no closer, as Louisville continued hitting its free throws, icing the game.

Princeton would assure that no such comeback would be necessary the next day against Samford. For the first time all season, the Tigers were able to put together a dominating stretch of their own.

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Even more important, perhaps, was the reemergence of last year's leading scorer, sophomore post Becky Brown. After struggling in her first two games of the year, Brown led the Tigers with 20 points — 17 of them in the first half — and six rebounds.

"Match-up wise, they didn't have any big people who could come close to stopping her," senior captain Mary Cate Opila said. "So we really focused on getting her the ball."

Early on, Princeton and Samford played evenly, as both teams scored in bunches and the lead teetered back and forth. But with 3:08 remaining before the halftime break, and the Bulldogs leading 36-35, the Tigers took over the game, scoring the last eight points of the first half and the first eight of the second.

Princeton continued to pad the lead while clamping down on the defensive end, holding Samford to 29 percent shooting in the second stanza. Digovich and Lockwood both scored in double-figures for a third straight game, with 17 and 13 respectively. Fellow freshman Shelly Slemp played another solid all-around game, recording six assists, five boards and three steals.