W. hoops closes season, hosts Harvard, Dartmouth

It's early March; the end of the season is near, and, in the words of Frank Sinatra, it is now time for women's basketball to "face the final curtain." The real interest, however, will be to see if the Tigers, true to the lyrics of Old Blue Eyes' tune, can come away from this final weekend with the performance they have hoped for all season and be able to say that they did things their way.

With a loss to Penn on Tuesday, things couldn't be looking bleaker for Princeton. Having started Ivy League competition with an impressive win over Brown, hopes were high as the Tigers moved on to face tougher teams like Harvard and Dartmouth. A string of six straight losses, however, and an injury effectively eliminating freshman wing Casey Lockwood, arguably Princeton's best offensive player, have left the Tigers truly saying they've "had their share of losing."

After Tuesday's 73-62 loss to Penn, the Tigers have two more chances to end the losing as they host Harvard and Dartmouth in the last games of the season.

"Since losing our best player, we've lost six straight games simply because we haven't had people picking up their level of play and taking up her role," head coach Richard Barron said. "There are definitely some positives on the individual level. What we need to see and haven't seen yet is everyone playing well together."

On the whole, Princeton has been seeing some general improvement, especially in its offensive game over the past week. With four players scoring in the double digits against first-place Penn, the Tigers have proved they can play execute their game "not in a shy way."

"We did some things better," Barron said of the Penn game. "Our offensive execution was a big improvement, but we didn't capitalize on those improvements. It's just one of those games where we feel like we beat ourselves. I do feel like it was an improvement from the way we played in previous games, but the competition was better as well."

Harvard and Dartmouth, however, won't be any less of a match-up for the Tigers, as they try to pull some sort of redemption from their seasons. Now, heading into a weekend in which they will face two of the tougher teams in the league, the time has truly come to see if, "when there is doubt," Princeton can "eat it up and spit it out." Harvard, boasting the most talented senior lineup in the league, could have Princeton's number as the Crimson begins its last away weekend.

"Harvard is the most talented team in the league, coming off two seasons when they went 27-1," Barron said. "This year you don't know what you're going to get from Harvard. Sometimes they play sloppy; sometimes they're the team we've expected all season. It's hard to know which team is going to show up."

In addition, Dartmouth could be playing for a chance at winning the Ivy League title, a prospect impingent on a win against Penn the night before they face the Tigers.

"Dartmouth is a talented young team," Barron said. "They're half a game behind Penn at the moment, and if they beat Penn they're really trying to win their last two games and win the conference outright."

Despite the tough competition and the sobering streak of losses they have endured, Princeton is still hopeful heading into this weekend.

"Right now, we need to worry less about our opponents and more about us," Barron said. "We make the same mistakes over and over and aren't learning our lessons. This is about changing an attitude and a culture in a program."

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On that note, Princeton will welcome its final opponents of regular season play to Jadwin Gym. While it's been a long road for the Tigers, Barron feels that his team is steadily improving through passion and committment, especially from its hardworking seniors — Maureen McCracken and Mary Cate Opila. For the Tigers, there are still clear skies on the horizon, as they once again try to do it their way.

"I appreciate our two seniors," Barron said. "It's not been the season I would have hoped for them in their senior year, and I admire their determination and loyalty to the program. When we are successful, and I know we will be in the coming years, we'll look back and know what we owe them."

Perhaps Princeton can start paying them back with two weekend wins.