Lackluster defense dooms Princeton

After digging itself a huge hole, the women's basketball team wanted back in. Unfortunately, sometimes wanting the win isn't quite enough, and that was the case last night when Princeton (2-3 overall) fell to St. Joseph's (2-3) by a score of 81-69.

The Hawks soared right from the start, as guard Timisha Gomez swished a three-pointer. Guard Ayahna Cornish followed with a layup and then a three-pointer that stretched the differential to 7-2. Cornish frustrated the Tigers all night, finishing with a whopping 28 points on nine of 16 shooting, with four rebounds and four assists to boot.

Five more quick points from Cornish and a quick in-transition layup and Princeton found itself down 16-4. The contest appeared as if it were quickly going to devolve into a rout for the Hawks, but the Tigers never gave up.

Princeton slowly whittled an 11-point 20-9 deficit to 20-13 on baskets from senior guard Shelly Slemp and sophomore forward Whitney Downs. Slemp drove left and banked in a tough layup. Downs chipped in with a fantastic play; after losing her defender on a pump-fake, Downs drove hard left, double-clutched and banked the shot in, forcing the Hawks to take a timeout.

The Tigers got within four after Downs nabbed a quick steal and raced down the court for a quick layup.

Princeton began to relax its guard, however, and St. Joseph's punished the Tigers for their lack of attention with a pair of three-pointers.

Princeton's inability to clamp down for extended stretches of time would prove to be the overarching theme of the evening, one that would haunt the Tigers.

The half closed with Princeton trailing the Hawks, 40-31. St Joseph's shot a blistering 50 percent for the half, and ultimately the game, thanks largely in part to Cornish's silky jumper.

"I think they're a good team, but I don't think they should have been that hard to guard," head coach Richard Barron said of St. Joseph's. "They shot well, but you know, they're a college basketball team shooting open shots."

The Tigers came out in the second half looking to go on a run. But after pulling within eight after senior guard Elyse Umeda's free throw and a Downs three-pointer, the Hawks went for the kill.

Two layups and a three-pointer later, Princeton found itself in a steep 15-point hole.

Even though they didn't always execute to perfection, the Tigers wanted to execute perfection — which gave them the fuel necessary to make one late, last ditch run.

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Junior forward Ali Prichard knocked down a three to begin the assault. Slemp drew a foul and swished both foul shots to bring the Tigers within eight, but the Hawks pushed back with a few buckets of their own. Still, Princeton withstood the counterattack.

Senior forward Casey Lockwood and Umeda played the give-and-go to perfection as Umeda took the ball down the baseline for a layup. Junior forward Meagan Cowher drew another foul on a turnaround jumper. After draining the first foul shot, she missed the second — but Lockwood was there to grab the rebound and the quick putback had the Tigers within six. Time out, St. Joseph's.

It didn't stop the bleeding. One open-court layup for Cowher and a Lockwood free throw later and Princeton found itself down only three. Unfortunately for the Tigers, that was as close as it would get.

"That's just the way we should play the whole game," Barron said. "That's why it's so disappointing to not play that way the whole time. That's nothing that we shouldn't have been able to accomplish."

Guard Whitney French took over for the Hawks, driving left, right and up the middle, drawing fouls as she went. Her five foul shots and steal-turned-layup and Gomez's mismatch jumper over Umeda stretched the lead to nine.

Princeton could never really muster itself for a final charge and time was running very short, with only two minutes, 50 seconds remaining in the game for the Tigers to do something. St. Joseph's took care of the ball and soaked up the game clock to end the game at 81-69.

"We have to improve on playing a 40-minute game," Barron said. "I didn't think we played with a whole lot of toughness the entire game. I think we have a talented team, but I think we're still learning how to play with a real competitive spirit."

No matter how admirable it is to play your heart out, it's not the only piece of the puzzle. Execution plays a major role, too.

"I think we have to kind of understand that wanting it isn't enough, that there's something there that you have to do, that you have to play smart as well," Barron said. "What I do like is that they want to do well."

Given time, those two unquenchable desires just might be enough.