Road woes continue for w. hoops

Princeton women's basketball had another rough weekend on the road, taking a 49-45 loss to Columbia in New York, N.Y. on Friday before falling to Cornell, 71-61, in Ithaca, N.Y. the following night.

Neither were easy losses to stomach as the Tigers (6-18 overall, 3-8 Ivy League) had defeated Cornell (9-16, 4-8) just two weeks earlier and lost to Columbia (12-12, 6-6) in overtime.

These losses drop Princeton down from No. 6 to No. 7 in the Ivy League, just one loss away from last-place Yale (6-19, 3-9).

Only five minutes into Saturday's game Cornell had built up an early 8-2 lead. The Big Red's domination was interrupted only by a layup and two steals from freshman Elyse Umeda. Umeda finished the game with eight points and a game-high five rebounds.

Princeton finally managed to respond with sophomores Katy O'Brien and Becky Brown combining to score the Tigers' next 15 points. Brown finished the half with 10 of Princeton's 25 points and O'Brien had hit three from long range.

Despite the strong play by Princeton the Big Red was able to retain its lead by dominating from behind the arc. Four Cornell players combined to hit six trifectas in the first half. At intermission, the Big Red held a commanding lead, 41-25.

The Tigers played well in the second half, but it was too little too late. Princeton shot 50 percent from the field and limited Cornell to 33.3 percent to close a 20-point second half deficit to 10.

In the last 10 minutes of the second half, the Tigers went on a run and outscored Cornell 20-7, and at one point held the Big Red scoreless for over four minutes.

Brown led Princeton with 17 points, marking her sixth consecutive game as leader of her team in scoring. O'Brien was the second leading scorer with 12 points.

One major influence on the outcome of the game was that Cornell capitalized on turnovers. The Tigers committed 19 turnovers to Cornell's 14, but the Big Red were able to score 20 points off turnovers while Princeton got only nine.

The night before, Princeton fell to Columbia. Like the game against Cornell, the Tigers had trouble at the start.

After Princeton won the tip the Tigers could do nothing else right as Cornell jumped out to a 10-4 win after six minutes.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Brown scored the Tigers' first 10 points and 16 of the Tigers' 19 points in the first half. The score was stuck at 14-10 in favor of the Lions for nearly four minutes before sophomore Lauren Nestor managed to connect with a jumper.

With under a minute left before halftime, Princeton was down, 19-16, and Umeda went to the free-throw line. She made the first, got her own rebound after missing the second, and found Brown to tie the game before the buzzer. Umeda finished the half with three assists and two steals.

Princeton came out strong in the second half. A three by O'Brien started things for the Tigers. This was followed by six straight points from Umeda. Princeton was up 32-24 within the first five minutes of second half. Unfortunately, they couldn't hold it.

Princeton will have a chance to stay above Yale and start a climb back up the rankings this Tuesday when it plays host to Penn in Jadwin.