Women's basketball faces Lehigh in home opener

For years, Princeton basketball has been synonymous with a rigid offensive system. So when the home crowd gets its first live look at this year's women's team — the Tigers (1-2 overall) host Lehigh (0-4) tonight in Jadwin Gym at 7 p.m. — Princeton fans may be in for a bit of a surprise.

Head coach Richard Barron welcomed a new breed of Tigers onto his squad this year, recruiting a class of athletic and versatile freshmen. And while they may still lack seasoning, they've been making up for it with raw talent.

To best take advantage of his team's skills, Barron has given the team much more freedom than it has been afforded in past years. Rather than repeatedly running set plays, it has been left up to the players to create chances within the flow of their motion offense.

Despite Princeton's youth, the freedom has served the team well. Although inexperience is normally associated with sloppy play, the Tigers have suffered no such correlation.

"We're much stronger fundamentally — turnovers are down, assists are up," Barron said. "We're sharing and moving the ball well."

Thus, the team that will take the court against Lehigh will be very different from the one that the Mountain Hawks defeated, 66-61, a year ago. In that game, Princeton fell behind early and could not complete a second-half comeback.

The Mountain Hawks have struggled out of the gates, falling in succession to Duquesne, Marist, California and Idaho State. Meanwhile, the Tigers have played sharply, especially against Samford, winning 84-58.

"It's clearly a winnable game for us," Barron said. "But just like against Samford, we're going to have to play well."

Given the low expectations set for the Tigers — they were picked to finish last in the Ivy League — their success so far has been a pleasant surprise. Although they dropped games at Nebrask, 75-61, and Louisville, 68-61, they demonstrated that they are not nearly as overmatched against top-quality teams as they had been in the past. Last year, several of their early season losses were blowouts.

In fact, Princeton might very well have defeated Nebraska and Louisville if not for one devastating drought in each contest. In each case, the Tigers went through a spell where they simply could not score. Surprisingly, there was no common fundamental error like turnovers to blame. Princeton simply missed makeable shots.

Eliminating such stretches of poor play in the future is an obvious must. Barron theorized that the struggles stem from difficulties adjusting to substitutions, an issue he hopes to see disappear as the season progresses. The key is for the Tigers to learn to cope with and react to changes in momentum.

"With any young team, there are some inconsistencies," Barron said. "We have to change our focus and recognize they've made a run. One thing we have to learn is who are our goto players."

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Thus far, the role of clutch scorer has been filled by a pair of freshmen, forwards Casey Lockwood and Katy Digovich, who are averaging 16 and 15 points per game, respectively. Lockwood has also been a strong presence on the glass, grabbing a team high 8.7 rebounds per game.

But the dynamic diaper-dandy duo is not alone in possessing the ability to light up the scoreboard. Sophomore forward Lauren Nestor sparked the second-half comeback against Louisville with her long-range shooting, and sophomore post Becky Brown exploded for 17 first half points against Samford.

"Everyone can score, which is why we share the ball so well," Barron said. "It's not just one player out there. We need five players moving together and working together. Anybody can step up."

On the other hand, Lehigh has been much more of a one-woman team. Jessica DePalo is the only Mountain Hawk in double figures, registering 16.3 points per game.

Overall, Lehigh has struggled to execute offensively. The Mountain Hawks have shot just 21 percent from long-range and turned the ball over 31 times in a single game.

Princeton will look to exploit these weaknesses. Don't be surprised to see the Tigers racing up the court, hoping to convert Lehigh turnovers into easy buckets.

It may not be what Princeton fans are used to, but they can't help but be happy with the results.