W. hoops looks to sweep Brown, Yale

The women's basketball team (10-10 overall, 2-5 Ivy League) will look to sweep the season series from Yale (4-17, 1-7) tonight, then avenge the loss it suffered to Brown (14-7, 6-2) in its Ivy League opener. In January, the Tigers traveled to Providence and New Haven, losing a squeaker to the Bears, 63-62, before rebounding the following night to bestow a 56-52 loss on the Bulldogs. Princeton could just as easily have won the game it lost, though, and lost the game it won.

The Tigers will have to keep themselves in both games this weekend without sidelined freshman forward Meagan Cowher, one of only two Princeton players averaging double digits in scoring.

A pleasant and much-needed surprise for the Tigers during Cowher's absence has been freshman forward Ariel Rogers. Rogers set a new career high of 12 points against Columbia last weekend, the game after she set her previous career high of 11. Rogers' improving play is emblematic of the increased production Princeton has received — and will need to receive this weekend — from its supporting cast. Nine Tigers have now posted double-digit point totals in individual games this season.

Princeton will be visited by a Yale team desperate for a win, especially one against the Tigers. Having lost seven of their last eight games, the Bulldogs are reeling, but they stand just one spot behind the Tigers in the Ivy League standings. It will be difficult for Yale to turn things around on the road, though, as they have yet to come away from any of their eight away games with a victory.

Yale's greatest difficulty this season has been staying in games through the first 20 minutes. The Bulldogs, who have been outscored, 667 to 482, in the first half this season, demonstrated their propensity for coming out cold in their Jan. 29 loss to Princeton. The Tigers jumped out to a 13-point halftime lead before the Bulldogs pulled themselves back into contention in the second half.

As it did in the Princeton game, Yale has been able to make runs late in many of its games — a fact that can be attributed in part to the growing frustration that opponents must feel as they attempt to score inside against imposing Bulldog center Erica Davis. While just a sophomore, Davis leads the Ivy League with an average of 2.14 blocks per game and is already Yale's all-time leading shot-blocker.

A win against second-place Brown tomorrow night would go a long way toward achieving Princeton's quest to inch into the top half of the Ivy League standings.

Several Bears will stand in the Tigers' way, however. Guard Sarah Hayes has been honored for her efforts, nabbing Ivy League Player of the Week honors twice this season. Additionally, she was recently named a 2005 ESPN The Magazine District I Second-Team Academic All-American. Averaging a team-leading 14.6 points per game, Hayes has only become even more impressive as the season has progressed. Over the last four games, she has averaged 17.5 ppg and pulled down 8.8 rebounds per game.

Her offensive production is rivaled by center Holly Robertson, who scores an average of 14.3 ppg in addition to leading the team in rebounds, averaging 8.5 per game. Princeton's success will be contingent on finding a way to shut down these two players.

It is in the rebounding category where Brown holds the biggest advantage over its opponents. Although the Bears capitalize on only 39 percent of their field goal attempts, they gain many second-chance attempts by averaging close to 40 rebounds a game. This ability to reset the shot clock contributes to an eventual wearing-down of the opponents' defense.

The Tigers, who only manage to grab 33 rebounds per game, will need to focus on stepping up their efforts underneath the basket if they hope to keep up with Brown on both sides of the court.