Weekend split has women's hoops tied for No. 5 in Ivy League

Women's basketball hosted two Ivy League opponents in Jadwin Gym this past weekend posting a win over Cornell (8-13 overall, 3-5 Ivy League) but losing to Columbia (10-10, 4-4).

With their return to Jadwin Gymnasium, the Tigers (6-14 , 3-4) were hoping to put the wind back into their sails after suffering losses to Dartmouth and Harvard on the road the weekend before. In their last two home games the Tigers scored victories over both Yale and Brown.

The Tigers had a fine showing against Cornell, earning a 74-67 victory. Unfortunately they could not sustain their momentum the next day, losing 60-56 to Columbia in overtime.

Princeton was ahead by three late in the game, but the Lions' Sue Altman scored one from behind the arc with 20 seconds left to tie the game and send it into overtime as the Tigers last second attempt missed.

There the Tigers — missing the offensive capabilities of freshman Casey Lockwood — were unable to pull off a victory despite the efforts of freshman post Katy Digovich. She scored six of Princeton's eight points in the overtime period. Digovich ended up scoring a total of 15 points and grabbed five rebounds.

Altman and Edytte Key led the Lions in scoring with 16 and 15 points respectively, and each added seven rebounds.

The team was bolstered by a crowd of 2988 people, the largest attendance for women's basketball this season and second-largest of all time at Princeton.

During the Cornell game on Friday night, the Big Red were up 8-4 within the first five minutes when Lockwood left the game due to a knee injury and did not return.

Lockwood is Princeton's third-leading scorer and leads the Tigers in rebounding. She averages 10.8 points per game and 7.9 rebounds per game.

But despite the absence of Lockwood, Princeton was able to rise to the challenge. Sophomore post Becky Brown led the Tigers with a total of 47 points this weekend, scoring a season-high of 25 points in the game against Cornell.

Brown is the team's leading scorer at 13.4 ppg.

Sophomore guard Katy O'Brien contributed 15 points while connecting on three of four attempts from beyond the arc.

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Four Princeton players scored in double digits against Cornell. Along with Brown and O'Brien, Digovich and freshman Elyse Umeda both scored 10 points and combined for three of Princeton's seven three-pointers.

Columbia's loss put the Princeton back into a tie with Harvard for No. 5 in the league starndings and raises Columbia into a tie with Brown — whom the Tigers defeated — for the No. 3 spot. The fact that Princeton defeated Brown and and yet lost to Harvard is a testament to how close the competition is in the Ivy League.

The Tigers have now played every team in the league at least once and next weekend will begin playing every team over again starting with away games against Brown and Yale.

The Tigers have yet to win a game on the road in league play. The only other team to share that dubious distinction are the Elis, who find themselves last in the league standings.

Next weekend's contests will be critical for the Tigers as they have the opportunity to begin the second half of their league schedule on the right foot. Whether or not Lockwood is able to practice this week is still up in the air.