Cowher's double-double guides Tigers to victory

It is only appropriate that on the day after Thanksgiving, the Princeton women's basketball team beat the stuffing out of Lehigh on Friday night at the Stabler Arena, 56-49.

The win evened the Tigers' record at 2-2 after they dropped two games in their opening-weekend tournament in Minnesota. Lehigh fell to 2-2, unable to sustain its momentum following a seven-point win over Syracuse last week.

Princeton led for virtually the entire game in Bethlehem, Pa., as the Mountain Hawks had no answer for the Tiger duo of junior forward Meagan Cowher and senior forward Casey Lockwood.

Cowher, a first-team All-Ivy selection last season and the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in the 2004-2005 season, registered her second-straight double-double, scoring a game-high 20 points on nine-for-18 shooting from the field and grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds. Her teammate in the frontcourt, Lockwood, netted 15 points as she shot over 50 percent from the field.

As a team, Princeton shot 42.4 percent for the game and better than 46 percent in the decisive second half of play. The Tigers' sharp shooting, however, was not their only strength. Princeton also dominated the glass as it secured 50 rebounds to Lehigh's 32. As a result, the Tigers registered twice as many second-chance points, with a total of six.

"The week leading up to the game, those were our two main focuses," Lockwood said. "We knew that we had to rebound because Lehigh scores a lot off of second chances, and against their zone and man, we knew we had to attack the rim and get post touches to be successful and allow for more open perimeter shots."

While Princeton could not miss from the field, the Mountain Hawks could not find the basket neither from behind the arc nor from the free-throw line. Lehigh shot a miserable three for 22 from three-point range and a measly four-for-13 from the line. Overall, the Mountain Hawks shot 34 percent in the game.

After taking a five-point lead into halftime, Princeton's lead was trimmed to one early in the second half before the Tigers went on an eight-point scoring spurt to open their lead to 36-27, led by sophomore forward Whitney Downs' two field goals.

Lehigh was eventually able to cut the deficit to three, 39-36, after freshman Alex Ross hit one of her two three-pointers on the night. But that would be the last time that the Mountain Hawks would be within one basket as Lockwood responded with a trey of her own.

The Tigers never looked back. Their lead ballooned to 11 late in the second half before the clock expired on the final tally of 56-49.

Senior forward Adrienne Blount led the Mountain Hawks squad as she tallied 18 points, shooting a remarkable 61 percent from the floor, and grabbing a team-high seven rebounds.

Princeton took the lead a mere four minutes into the contest, breaking a 6-6 tie, and never surrendered it. A 6-0 scoring run, thanks to baskets by Cowher, Lockwood and junior forward Ali Prichard, gave the Tigers an early six-point lead.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

But Lehigh would not go quietly, as it made a run of its own with just under six minutes remaining in the first half. With Princeton leading 21-15 after sophomore guard Caitlin O'Neill's three-pointer, the Mountain Hawks scored a quick five points of their own to pull within one of the Tigers.

Ross, however, could not give Lehigh, the lead on the Mountain Hawks' next possession as she hoisted yet another three and the Tigers proceeded to outscore Lehigh 7-3 in the final four minutes of the half, leading 28-23 at the break.

If there was a weak spot in Princeton's performance, it came in the form of 23 turnovers. Luckily for the Tigers, the Mountain Hawks could not take full advantage of these turnovers, scoring only 18 points off them. The Tigers scored 21 points off Lehigh's 15 turnovers.

"Many of the turnovers were unforced," Lockwood said. "A lot of them had to do with recognizing missed fast break opportunities, where we just needed to set up, and others came from a failure to execute plays all the way through when we didn't get a good scoring opportunity early in the shot clock. [Turnovers] will be a focus for us this week."

Princeton is currently in the midst of a stretch in which it plays five of six games on the road. On Wednesday, the Tigers will play their lone home game against St. Joseph's before jet-setting to Illinois to play in a two-game tournament at Northwestern.