It is not part of a formula for success when a team puts up nearly double its average number of turnovers.
The 31 turnovers on the part of Princeton (1-4 overall) played a large role in its 71-47 loss to Sacred Heart (5-1) on Saturday afternoon. Its average had previously been 17.0 per game.
Traveling up to Fairfield, Conn. presented the team almost as difficult a task as facing the Patriots. To make sure they got there on time despite the snowstorm, the Tigers left Friday instead of early Saturday on a bus ride lengthened by traffic and snow.
The next day's game proved even more difficult than the drive through the blizzard.
The Tigers did one thing very well — they effectively shut down the Pioneers' leading scorer, freshman standout Amanda Pape. Going into Saturday's contest, Pape was averaging 18.8 points per game, but Princeton managed to hold her to just six points.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, Sacred Heart had another secret weapon up its sleeve — sophomore Nicolle Rubino. Rubino, last year's Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year, chalked up over 20 points for the first time this season, leading her team to victory with 23.
Sacred Heart shot out of the gates for an early 11-0 lead due largely to Rubino's efforts. The sophomore was responsible for five of those 11 points in a shot from behind the arc and a layup.
Princeton couldn't seem to find the net until nearly five minutes into the game, when freshman post Katy Dig-ovich scored the Tigers' first field goal. Before the basket, Princeton had already given up seven turnovers to an intense Sacred Heart defense.
"I think their defensive intensity might have flustered us a bit because we had some trouble getting the ball across half-court," Digovich said. "But it was us who really stopped ourselves."
Poor shooting on the Pioneers' end of the court allowed the Tigers to stay only a few points behind Sacred Heart in the first half despite their turnovers. The Pioneers clung to a 27-21 halftime lead despite making just eight field goals in 28 attempts.
Princeton opened the second half with a drive by sophomore post Becky Brown. That score put the Tigers within four, their smallest deficit of the game.
For the rest of the afternoon, however, it was a lopsided contest. Sacred Heart outscored Princeton, 44-24, after that early second-half bucket.

The Tigers shot just eight-of-28, or 28.6 percent, from the field in the second half, repeating the Pioneers' first-half statistics. Sacred Heart, by contrast, shot 65.4 percent on a 17-of-25 performance.
Leading the offensive effort for the Tigers was Brown, the only Tiger in double digits with 15 points. Senior post Maureen McCracken added seven points and six rebounds, matching Brown's rebound total. After scoring Princeton's first basket, Digovich, the Tigers' leading scorer in the young season, posted just three more points for a total of five. Freshman wing Casey Lockwood added six more.
The Tigers agreed that it was turnovers that hurt the team most.
'Big factor'
"Turnovers were a big factor," Digovich said. "They stopped us from really getting in the flow of the game."
Senior captain Mary Cate Opila agreed with her teammate but asserted turnovers weren't the only problem.
"Because of all the turnovers, we didn't get a chance to run our offense very much, and when we did get the ball down the court to run our offense, we didn't execute," Opila said.
Princeton has a chance to improve its record Saturday against Hofstra, a team with a 1-4 record identical to the Tigers'. For that game, Princeton travels to Hemp-stead, N.Y., in what the Tigers hope will be a less snowy trip. For now, the team will focus on correcting some of the mistakes it made in this past weekend's game.
"We have all week to practice and regain our composure," Opila said. "I'm sure it will be a hard week of practice, and we will be ready to play on Saturday."