Spirited Rogers provides Tigers boost from bench

Sophomore Ariel Rogers is finding her groove — on and off the court. Known as both a serious offensive threat in the post and the girl who spices up road trips and brings laughter to the locker room, the sophomore forward is settling into the women's basketball program and keeping everyone laughing along the way.

"Ariel definitely can carry the team's energy sometimes," senior center and co-captain Becky Brown said. "When she gets excited, it's very contagious. She's the girl who is saying crazy things on the bench and getting people excited. When someone makes a shot, she's the first one to jump up and scream."

Rogers credits her teammates as the source of her spunk.

"I think we have a great group of girls," Rogers said. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I kind of love my team. It makes all the time that we spend together seem like play time. It sucks when we are running sprints, but overall it's like a big slumber party."

Rogers doesn't think twice about why her team is so cohesive. She cites the fact that they have all chosen to play basketball for Princeton, with no sports-specific scholarships that bind players to a team, as the underlying factor in the team's camaraderie.

"I like it better that we choose to be committed," she said. "We [play] because we want to. It's almost as if we demand a certain type of commitment from each other instead of being obligated to come in because of scholarship. We want to be here for the team. We want to learn; we want to be taught."

Rogers is taking advantage of that learning experience.

"She has just improved so much since she got here," senior guard and co-captain Ali Smith said.

Like every other player, when Rogers began to play at Princeton, she had to adjust to the collegiate level. In addition, however, Rogers had her own challenge to overcome — on top of picking up her level of play, she also had to control it.

The excitement that Rogers brought to the court was great for morale, but it sometimes led her to act too quickly or overthrow a pass because her energy would overwhelm her.

"Sometimes she plays so quickly that she rushes her decisions," head coach Richard Barron said.

As Rogers began to settle in toward the second half of last year's season, she began to "find her niche," she said. Luckily for the Tigers, this came during Ivy League play.

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Rogers scored in double figures in six games last year, five of which were against Ivy League opponents. This feat helped her earn the title of Ivy League Rookie of the Week in February of 2005. Though she played in every game last season, she earned her first start against Brown on Feb. 19, 2005, and made three starts over the rest of the season. In the Bear game, and again against Yale, she scored her season highs of 14 points.

She has already made one start out of her five games this year, averaging 7.4 points per game and three rebounds with an average of 16 minutes.

"[Rogers] plays a very big role and is an integral part of our team," Barron said. "She plays a significant role in our offense, usually off the bench, as a post player."

Rogers' most notable contribution to the team is her energy. Barron relies on her "great speed and athleticism" to add to Princeton's depth and wear the other team down.

"She forces people to guard her because she is able to hit the midrange shot," Barron said. "If people guard her closely, she is able to drive by them, and if they don't, she can pull up and hit the shot. [This year] she's a little more aggressive and stronger with her post moves and more confident and comfortable on the court."

Brown agreed with her coach.

"I guard her a lot, and she is definitely getting a lot stronger and more confident," Brown said. "She has so much energy, and she has been able to channel that on the court into great play this year."

Rogers is perfectly happy with her role on the team.

"Our bench is amazing," she said. "I really love it in the very beginning of the game; when the starters are in their huddle, we are in our own huddle as well. We are all saying, 'Let's be energetic, give them a pick-me-up, go in with energy and spark, and go in and maintain the level of play, if not increase it.' We feed off each other with that — it's not just one person. It's a team effort."

Rogers is a big part of that effort, constantly adding to the team's energy — and point total.