W. basketball travels to No. 20 Rutgers

The shot clock gives a women's basketball team 30 seconds to get off a shot. The women's basketball team intends to use every one of them every time down the floor.

The Tigers (2-3 overall) travel to Piscataway, N.J., tonight to take on No. 20 Rutgers (4-1) and try to climb back to .500. To pull off such an upset, Princeton's focus has been on trying to slow the game down as much as possible.

"We cannot get into a running game," head coach Richard Barron said. "We can go on runs, but our runs are six-to-nothing or eight-to-two. [Rutgers'] are 18-to-two. We need to slow the game down."

Indeed, although the Scarlet Knights are coming off their first loss of the season, the team has still established itself as a dangerous mix of stifling defense and potent offense. Rutgers shoots better than 48 percent from the field, compared to just 36 percent for Princeton.

The Tigers will also have to deal with the publicity surrounding Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer, who is looking to notch the 700th victory of her career. The game is expected to draw both local and national media coverage for this reason.

Despite the potential for distractions, however, Barron told his team to believe they can win the game and pointed to the loss against Georgia Tech as an example.

"We're capable of playing with these teams, but we need to do it for 40 minutes. We executed well for 35 minutes against Georgia Tech but didn't in the last five. We kept it close, and then they went out and beat [No. 6 Georgia]. This is a chance to challenge ourselves and we have to play a smart game to win."

Barron believes that the team must limit its mistakes if it wants to pull off the upset and stressed to his players how important it would be to control the tempo of the game.

"We have to limit our turnovers," he said. "We have to limit their second attempts. When they score, they press, so we've got to be prepared for that."

The Tigers will be counting on big games from their offensive weapons, especially sophomore forward Katy Digovich, who has emerged as the team's top scorer this season but has also struggled at times from the field. The team will also need a solid effort from freshman guard Meagan Cowher, who has quickly made her presence known and was recently named Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the second time this season.

Defensively, Princeton will look to shut down forward Michelle Campbell, who leads the Scarlet Knights in scoring with 17.2 points per game and rebounding with 7.8. Although Rutgers does its scoring primarily from the interior, the Tigers will also have to keep an eye on sharpshooting guard Nikki Jett, who is shooting 67 percent for the season from beyond the arc.

It sounds daunting, but if the Tigers can put together the kind of game that Barron has preached to them, then he believes that the team does have a chance to come away with the win. In some respects, Barron believes that underdog status might even benefit his club.

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"We have confidence in our gameplan," he said, "so in a way we're kind of suited to the [underdog] role."

Coming on the heels of last Wednesday's 63-53 win over Wagner, the team is looking to get its record back to .500 for the first time since Nov. 23. This will be their last game on the road before the Tigers open their home season with a three game homestand starting next Tuesday night.

This will be the Tigers' first game against the Scarlet Knights since a 72-50 loss during the 1996-97 season. Rutgers also laid down the hurt in a 116-43 win over Princeton in 1979, the worst defeat in the women's basketball team's history.