With win over Brown, title in sight

It all came down to threes. Three-pointers and three-point plays off fouls propelled women's basketball over its most formidable hurdle standing in the way of an Ivy League championship.

Princeton (20-6 overall, 11-2 Ivy League) rolled past Brown (18-9, 12-2) with a stunning 72-55 victory at Jadwin Gym Friday night. The Tigers moved into a tie with Dartmouth for second in the Ivies, only a half game behind Brown for the No. 1 ranking.

Senior center Becky Brown, who had a 20-point, 13-rebound performance, and senior guard Katy O'Brien, who earned all of her fifteen points from behind the arc, led the heart and soul of the squad on the court.

With tough-pressure defense, Brown kept Princeton in check for much of the opening half, getting ahead of the Tigers by as much as five. Princeton and the Bears scuffled in the lane for rebounds and possession.

"Everybody was just diving," head coach Richard Barron said. "It was a war the first half."

Sophomore forward Meagan Cowher led the Tigers' effort in the first half with 10 points and 18 points on the night, coming from skilled moves underneath the basket and jumpers. Princeton finally gained the lead with six minutes and 21 seconds to play in the first half, but then struggled in a four and a half minute scoring drought.

O'Brien hit a three with under 44 seconds to go and gave the Tigers a small three point buffer to boost the confidence going into the second half.

Princeton then lit up the court in the second half, as a trey by O'Brien at 14:19 followed by a converted layup and one by Becky Brown at 13:53 off an assist from O'Brien launched a runaway 24-7 run by the Tigers over the ensuing eleven minutes.

"We're capable of those runs ... there's just something that clicks, and our team gets rolling," Barron said.

The key to the Tigers' success centered on the hustle plays made down low by the post players, especially Brown and Cowher. Princeton out-hustled the Bears through dives to the floor to earn jump ball possessions and garnered a 34-22 rebounding edge. These Tiger efforts were rewarded by 34 points in the paint and 16 second-chance points.

Princeton determined to dominate the boards entering the contest after the Bears crushed the Tigers in rebounding, 40-30, during the two teams' first match-up this season. The Tigers also made adjustments in practice over the last week to prepare for Brown's press defense that shut Princeton's offense down, holding the Tigers to just 18 points in the first half on Feb. 4 in Providence.

The steady, reliable presence in the post relieved the pressure from the Tigers' sharpshooters and allowed them to shoot with greater confidence. With an eased attitude, Princeton shot seven for 13 from behind the arc.

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"We weren't focusing on [long-range shooting] tonight," O'Brien said. "We weren't purely relying on the outside shot."

The Tigers played to their offensive strengths by taking only quality shots and capitalizing off "late in the shot-clock buzzer beaters," head coach Richard Barron said.

By exercising choosy shot selection, Princeton maintained a phenomenally high field goal percentage in the second half, hitting .636 from the field, an improvement over the Tigers' .500 in the opening half.

Princeton's strong shooting was brought about in part from the residual confidence over last weekend's victory against Dartmouth.

"I was nervous before our Dartmouth game," Barron said. "We hadn't won that sort of game before."

After the Tigers' victory, however, not only the players but also Barron had a renewed sense of confidence in Princeton's ability to win clutch games.

"It was reassuring for them to hear their coach believed in them," Barron said.

A sense of finality also boosted the Tigers' intensity. For the seniors, this weekend potentially opened the final week of play for the players.

"If we didn't win these games, we had one practice left," O'Brien said, who entered Friday's game worried that her sprained thumb from this week might affect her shooting.

Princeton bit the bullet and came up with the must-win to make its hopes of a championship that much closer to realization, one three-point play and rebound at a time.