Tigers drop two games at Subway Classic

If teams can learn from their mistakes, then this past weekend should be a valuable lesson for the women's basketball team.

Princeton (1-2 overall) dropped both of its games this past weekend at the Subway Classic in Minneapolis, Minn., finishing fourth out of four teams. Saturday afternoon the Tigers fell to tourney host Minnesota (3-1) by a score of 85-60. Sunday afternoon's third-place game was closer, as Princeton lost 69-63 in a hard-fought battle against Maine (2-1).

In Saturday's loss to the Golden Gophers, the Tigers' main problems were ball control and second-half execution. They committed 30 turnovers in the game and shot only 30.3 percent from the field after halftime.

Senior forward and co-captain Casey Lockwood knows that her team needs to focus on its weaknesses in order to improve.

"Our team needs to work on executing our game plan and not taking possessions [off]," Lockwood said. "To be a great team you have to put together a 40-minute game, and we didn't do that this weekend."

Princeton made it interesting in the first half, but long scoring runs by Minnesota kept the Tigers from clawing back into the game. The only time the Orange and Black had a lead was in the first two minutes of the game, when junior post Ariel Rogers scored a layup to make the score 2-1.

From that point on, the Golden Gopher offense started to heat up. An 8-3 Minnesota run in the middle of the first half made the score 19-7. In the first half, the Golden Gopher squad shot just under 50 percent from the field, which made it hard for the Tigers to get back in the game.

Princeton did show some resiliency in the half, however, mounting a couple of offensive runs of its own. Thanks to a 12-4 run in which five different Tigers scored, the team cut Minnesota's lead to four with eight minutes, 38 seconds remaining in the first half. Junior forward Ali Prichard, a Minnesota native, made herself noticed in her homecoming by sinking a three-point shot to make the score 35-32.

The hot-handed Golden Gopher offense, however, would not cool down and continued to increase its lead, which amounted to 13 points by halftime.

In the second half, Princeton attempted to fight its way back. Turnovers and rebounds, however, hindered the Tigers' cause. Also, Minnesota's 23 offensive boards created a lot of second chance baskets, leading to more points and a bigger lead for the Golden Gophers.

With 7:32 left in the game, a recharged Princeton offense, led by junior forward Meagan Cowher, who finished the game with 20 points, made the score 61-52. But this was as close as the Tigers would get to a comeback opportunity. In the last 20 minutes of the game, Minnesota shot 51.7 percent from the field and led by as many as 27 points, which resulted in the eventual 25-point victory.

Though Princeton also lost Sunday's third-place matchup, the team committed fewer turnovers, and there was a noticeable improvement in its field goal execution.

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The tug-of-war battle between the Tigers and the Black Bears saw 13 lead changes and 11 ties, resulting in an exciting finish to the game.

With 48 seconds left in the match and Maine leading by a score of 62-57, sophomore guard Caitlin O'Neill sunk a shot from behind the arc to cut the Black Bear lead to two. After four consecutive foul shots by Maine — two apiece from guard Kris Younan and forward Bracey Barker — O'Neill scored her second three-pointer in one minute to make the score 66-63. With just 10 seconds remaining, O'Neill attempted another three-pointer, but it was partially blocked by a Black Bear defender. Princeton had no choice but to foul, and Maine scored three more free throws to end the game.

In the first half, the Tigers fell behind by a score of 9-4 early on. Cowher, who finished the game with a double-double — scoring 18 points and collecting 13 boards — knotted the game at 23 apiece with three minutes remaining in the first half. The Tigers entered the locker room at halftime facing a two-point deficit.

The second half of play was a display of more back-and-forth action between the two sides. A jump shot by Rogers put Princeton ahead, 40-38, with 13:26 left in the game. After the Black Bears took a 45-42 lead, a basket by Lockwood got the Tigers to within one with 10:22 remaining. With Maine up by five and under two minutes left, a Lockwood jump shot sliced the lead to three. The Black Bears' execution at the free throw line in the final minutes helped them win the game.

Lockwood, who finished the game with a team-leading 21 points, recognized that even though Princeton lost both games, there were some positive aspects in the two losses.

"There were certainly a lot of bright spots, where the potential of the team was clear," Lockwood said. "While we obviously have to learn from our mistakes, we also must learn from [what worked], and there's a lot we can take away from these games in that respect."

The Tigers will look to improve their game when they travel to Lehigh on Friday.