Women's basketball seeks first road win

General George Marshall once said, "Morale is the state of mind. It is steadfastness and courage and hope. It is élan, esprit de corps, and, above all, determination." In this tradition, the women's basketball team, whose morale could be no lower after three weeks of injuries and losses, will launch its final away campaign of the season and try to muster the determination necessary to salvage their besieged record (6-16 overall, 3-6 Ivy League).

Marching to the empire state to battle first Columbia and then Cornell, Princeton is reeling from another losing weekend on the road, one in which they suffered defeats to both Brown and Yale, teams the Tigers had beaten earlier this year.

"This is going to be a game about taking back some of our confidence," Barron said. "There's become a real sense that we have to beat Columbia. This is test of each team's pride in their game."

"We're trying to finish in the top half of the league," head coach Richard Barron said. "Both these games are very winnable. We'd be thrilled to put ourselves in a position to come home and play our last few games with a chance to finish .500 in the league. We've got a chance to play some good teams and make that a reality."

Princeton, however, whose away-game history is less inspiring than Germany's Russian offensive, has yet to win any games on the road this year, even against Yale, last in the Ivy League.

"That's a monkey we'd like to get off our backs before the year's out. It would be huge for our confidence," Barron said.

Princeton does, however, have a score to settle this weekend. The Tigers have never beaten Columbia during Barron's regime and having lost several overtime games to the Lions.

"We lost this season's Columbia game in overtime," Barron said. "It's a series where, every time we play, they find a way to win, but we also find a way to lose. This has been the case in every game we've played against them since I've been here — it's like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory." But Columbia will have ample reason to fight back against Barron's Macarthur-esque assault on their proverbial Philippines. The Lions will definitely be fired up to defend their final match on home turf and their longstanding winning streak against the Tigers.

Cornell, which Princeton beat earlier in the season, also should be fueled by emotion this weekend as the Tigers head to Ithaca on senior night to play a team that starts five seniors, a veteran squad that may be as adamant about claiming a win as the Japanese in Guam.

"They have everything to play for," Barron said. "We need to see if we can take it to them and say that it's more important what we have to play for."

But regardless of the competition, the Tigers will really be fighting to defeat an even bigger foe this weekend: their sinking morale. Suffering a number of injuries and heartbreakingly close losses, Princeton is really looking just to find the mental determination to stick things out.

"I think we're all human, and certainly it's easy to get down," Barron said. "We've hd a combination of a lot of injuries and a lot of close losses. What's important is that we not give into that. We have to keep fighting and getting better."

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

Hitting the road for the last time, it seems that Princeton, while suffering more than its fair share of casualties and losses, feels ready to turn the tide of battle in their season. It's been a long road for the Tigers, but their campaign is not over, and the prospect of victory still lingers on the horizon.

"The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender," Barron said. "The team is at a point now where they realize that they've invested a lot in this season, and, no matter what, they don't want to give up."