It's cold and wet up in New England, but it was a dry streak that doomed the women's basketball team this past weekend.
Against the No. 2 and No. 1 teams in the Ivy League, Princeton (13-14 overall, 5-9 Ivy League) fell victim to prolonged scoring droughts in the second half of each game. The Tigers lost to Harvard, 71-49, and Dartmouth, 78-63, to end the season.
"It's obviously really disappointing . . . especially knowing that if we had done a couple of little things over the course of the season, that could have made the difference," junior guard Katy O'Brien said.
The No. 2 Crimson (19-7, 11-2) squad posed an insurmountable challenge for the Tigers. Princeton slipped in the first 10 minutes of the game, but freshman guard Ali Prichard's back-to-back three pointers tied the score at 14 with eight minutes, 52 seconds to play. The momentum quickly shifted back to Harvard, though, and the score at halftime was heavily in the Crimson's favor, 37-24.
Despite a tremendous effort by Prichard, who finished the game with a team-high 17 points after coming in off the bench for the Tigers, Harvard ultimately held the initiative and controlled the second half to win the game.
After another pair of threes by Prichard to make the score 50-39 with 11:06 to play, Princeton went on a seven-minute scoring drought that would prevent any hope of a comeback and ultimately cost it the game.
The Tigers' poor free throw showing didn't help, either. Princeton shot 57 percent from the line while Harvard posted an impressive 87 percent. Additionally, the Tigers committed far more fouls than the Crimson squad, giving Harvard 14 extra chances to score. The Crimson only gave Princeton eight such opportunities.
After the 22-point loss to Harvard, the Tigers were determined to give a .500 season their best shot in the following night's clash with Dartmouth (16-9, 12-1).
Princeton started the night off strong. After a three from the right side of the arc, courtesy of Prichard and her strong outside shooting, the Tigers jumped out to an early 12-8 lead over the No. 1 Big Green.
Buoyed by sophomore guard Casey Lockwood and junior guard Ali Smith, Princeton built up a seven-point lead, 21-14. After several more possessions and a three by O'Brien, the scoreboard read 26-17.
"I think our first half against Dartmouth was one of the best halves of basketball we've played all season," O'Brien said.
The Tigers' advantage peaked at a score of 33-25 with 3:07 left to play in the first half, but Dartmouth was already knocking on the door. By halftime, the score was tied at 35.
The Big Green began with a 9-0 run to start off the second half, spelling doom for Princeton. A strong defensive stand by the home team caused a six-minute scoring drought for the Tigers.
The score was 68-47 in Dartmouth's favor before Princeton could find the basket again. The Tigers' first half was all but a memory as the Big Green cruised to an easy 78-63 win to clinch the Ivy League title.
By the end of the game, Dartmouth had forced 22 Princeton turnovers and limited the Tigers to only 38 percent shooting accuracy in the second half.
Despite the loss, there were bright spots for Princeton. Three players finished in double digits. Senior center Becky Brown recorded a double-double, finishing the game with 21 points and 17 rebounds. Moreover, Prichard's strong outside shooting earned her 11 points. Lockwood added 12 after coming off the bench.
Prichard's success is only the most recent for a talented group of freshmen on the team. While freshman guard Meagan Cowher fell victim to an injury that ruined the latter part of her season, fellow freshman forward Ariel Rogers has emerged as a tremendous player in the last few weeks of the season.
"I think we made a lot of advances just in this season alone, and our freshmen really started to step up towards the end of the season," O'Brien said, adding that Princeton would "have a deep bench next year."
All this bodes well for the Tigers, who will return all of their players except for senior guard Kristin Lynch, who has missed most of this season due to an ACL tear. Additionally, sophomore forward Katy Digovich has been kicked off the team, and it is unclear if she will return next season (see 'Digovich kicked off w. hoops team' for details).
O'Brien noted that the team sets goals for each season that vary from winning the Ivy League to advancing to the NCAA Tournament.
"Next season we're going to be a lot better equipped to handle those goals," she said.
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