Tigers split weekend pair in N.Y.

Last year, close games just didn't seem to go the Tigers' way. This weekend, Princeton women's basketball started to correct its problem with close games in its 78-74 win over Cornell (2-18 overall, 0-7 Ivy League) on Friday.

"That's a game we would have lost last year," sophomore forward Casey Lockwood said. "We can finish wins now."

The next night, however, Columbia (4-4 Ivy League, 11-10 overall) proved that the Tigers still have work to do on that front, as the Lions held on for a 61-57 win.

Princeton (2-5, 10-10) put a halt to a late Big Red surge on Friday night to come out with the win.

The Tigers' 10-point lead began to slip in the second half when Cornell capitalized on a one-on-one breakaway and then shut down Princeton's offense on the next play. A Big Red free throw cut the lead to 54-47, but junior guard Katy O'Brien's three restored the Tigers' double-digit lead.

Cornell would not be deterred, however. With two free throws and a three-pointer, the Big Red cut the lead to four, 75-71, with less than 45 seconds to play.

After another Princeton bucket by sophomore guard Elyse Umeda, Cornell managed to drain a desperation shot with 2.4 seconds left. The Big Red's comeback was in vain, however, as Lockwood sealed the game with a foul shot on the next possession to give the Tigers the four-point win, 78-74.

Still, the Tigers were not completely satisfied with how they played.

"We didn't feel great about our win against Cornell because we should have just put them away and kept them away," Lockwood said.

The scoring was spread out, as junior forward Becky Brown led the Tigers with 20 points.

"We definitely had a lot of team baskets in the win against Cornell," Lockwood said.

In a game that featured a whopping 52 fouls — 27 on Princeton and 25 on Cornell — the Tigers' 70-percent free-throw shooting was critical to their victory.

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The Tigers played another close game against Columbia on Saturday night at Levien Gym in New York, but were edged out by the Lions, 61-57.

Columbia had two more baskets than the Tigers in the first half and held a two-point lead at halftime, 31-29. With the teams playing each other so closely, the Lions' slightly stronger performance in the first half turned out to be enough for the win.

All the small things

Indeed, it was the little things that made the difference between victory and defeat for the Tigers. Princeton actually outshot Columbia overall, 49 percent to 43 percent, but was less accurate than the Lions in three-point accuracy and free-throw shooting, albeit only by a small fraction.

While describing the loss as "frustrating," Lockwood noted that the team was not, on the whole, disappointed with its effort against the Lions.

"It really was in the first half that we lost it," Lockwood said. The charity stripe, which had been kind to the Tigers the night before, went in their opponents' favor late in Saturday's game. Columbia capitalized on its trips to the line to pull out the win. The Lions sealed the victory with foul shots at the end of the game, preventing Princeton from even having the chance to win the game with a buzzer-beater.

A Columbia three-pointer brought the score to 54-50 with about two minutes left, but sophomore forward Katy Digovich drained a three to answer back and keep the Tigers in the game.

With 1:12 left on the clock, Princeton held a 55-54 lead, but the Lions sunk another three to put Columbia up, 57-55. Over the next two possessions, Brown matched a Lion layup, but two sunk free throws sealed the game for Columbia.

In the absence of injured freshman forward Megan Cowher, fellow freshman forward Ariel Rogers chipped in a career-high 12 points, as well as five rebounds.

After splitting their games this weekend, the Tigers will play at home this weekend against Yale and Brown, currently No. 7 and No. 2 in the Ivy League, respectively. The game against the Bears provides Princeton with the chance to avenge a 63-62 loss earlier this season.

"We're all excited because I don't think we feel like we showed them what we had. We were coming off of a six-game win streak, and everyone was on their heels," Lockwood said. "We were playing more scared to lose than gunning to win."

If the Tigers can come out this Friday and Saturday gunning to win, it should be an interesting weekend. Princeton has an opportunity to prove how far it has come with respect to close games.