Jadwin drama: W. hoops shocks Monmouth in OT

The numbers will tell you that the women's basketball team got out-rebounded 47-40 on Saturday. They'll tell you that the Tigers shot just 35.2 percent from the field for the game, and only 46.4 percent from the free throw line. They'll tell you that, statistically speaking, the Tigers didn't play their best game.

Don't listen to them.

In a gritty matchup Saturday night at Jadwin Gym, which opened the 2004-05 season, the women's basketball team (1-0 overall) got a clutch three-pointer from junior guard Katy O'Brien as time expired in regulation to send the game to overtime and ultimately outlasted Monmouth (0-1), 57-52. More importantly, the Tigers got their season off to a perfect start in the only category that really counts: wins and losses.

The team got a strong performance from its young nucleus, including a team-high 17 points from sophomore forward Katy Digovich, and 10 points and 10 rebounds from freshman forward Meagan Cowher, who put up a double-double in her first college game. O'Brien led the team with seven assists.

For a team coming off a 9-19 season last year, winning the first game of this year was an important first step in trying to turn that record around.

From the start the game was an uphill battle. The Tigers quickly fell behind, 7-0, and found themselves trailing the Hawks 15-7 with 13 minutes, five seconds left in the first half. Faced with the prospect of getting blown out, the team responded, and sophomore guard Shelly Slemp's basket with two seconds remaining in the half tied the game at 22 and sent the Tigers into the locker room with momentum on their side.

The second half remained close for much of the period, but the Tigers again found themselves trailing, 42-35, with just over four minutes remaining. Once more, the team showed resiliency in clawing back, and when O'Brien's three went through the net, it seemed to take the wind out of Monmouth's sails. The Hawks never threatened in overtime.

Princeton shot relatively poorly for the game but benefited from equally poor shooting on the part of Monmouth. Both teams finished an identical 19-54 from the field, but the Hawks couldn't take advantage of their control of the boards, which included 11 offensive rebounds.

Monmouth was led by guard Niamh Dwyer, who scored a game-high 20 points, and forward Courtney Lumpkin, who added 13. The Hawks were doomed by sloppy play, though, committing 18 turnovers against just 10 assists.

Princeton also had a negative assists-to-turnovers ratio, and this certainly wasn't the kind of game that would make the team want to print out a copy of the box score and frame it on the locker room wall. To be sure, if they are hoping to finish this season with a winning record, the Tigers will need to clean up a lot of the mistakes they made against Monmouth. For now, though, there are two stats the team can focus on — wins: 1, losses: 0.