Last Wednesday evening, the women's basketball team dominated in a 75-51 win over NJIT. On Saturday afternoon, its luck against Garden State teams ran out, as it lost to No. 19 Rutgers by a score of 76-51 in Piscataway, N.J.
Princeton (3-6 overall) was unable to contain a Rutgers offense that presented a formidable scoring attack throughout the game. The Scarlet Knights (3-4) were led by center Kia Vaughn, who finished the evening with a career-high 27 points.
Early in the first half, the Tigers found some rhythm on offense. A jump shot by junior forward Meagan Cowher two minutes, 42 seconds into the game put Princeton ahead, 7-6. This would be the team's only lead of the game, however, as it went on a scoring drought for the next eight minutes.
While the Tigers fell into this cold streak, the Rutgers offense started to heat up. Led by Vaughn and center Epiphanny Prince, who had 19 points in the game, the Scarlet Knights went on a 13-1 scoring run midway through the opening half.
The Tigers clawed back into the game late in the first half. After being down by as many as 18, Cowher and sophomore guard Jessica Berry contributed to a Princeton run that left the team facing an 11-point deficit heading into the locker-room at halftime.
Junior forward Ali Prichard noted that the Tigers expected Rutgers to start the game strongly offensively.
"We knew that Rutgers would come out aggressively to take advantage of their quickness and strength, and our coaches did a great job of preparing us for that," Prichard said. "We put in a few [new] quick hitter offenses to exploit their aggressiveness and got a few buckets on backdoor cuts which gave us confidence early on."
Though Princeton came out strong in the second half, the Scarlet Knight offense proved to be too much for the Tigers to handle. It certainly did not help Princeton's cause that Rutgers continued to execute well, with a 53.3 field goal percentage after the half. A three-pointer by senior forward Casey Lockwood with 13:53 left in the game put the Tigers within six points. But three successive layups by Vaughn made the score 50-37 with eleven minutes left in the game.
Then, Prichard scored two consecutive baskets from behind the arc to cut the deficit to nine points. But turnovers, which have been plaguing Princeton all year, started to play a major role in the game, and prevented the Tigers from making the game any closer. The Scarlet Knights scored a total of 26 points off turnovers, compared to just six for Princeton.
Rutgers put the game away with a 14-0 scoring run late in the game. The only points the Tigers scored in the final five minutes of the matchup were two treys — one each from Berry and Prichard — and two foul shots from Berry with six seconds remaining, giving Princeton its final result of 51 points.
Though the game did not go as well as the Tigers would have hoped, there were some bright spots. Always a consistent offensive player, Cowher, who finished the game with a team-high 16 points, has scored in double figures for 15 straight games. Berry and Prichard also finished the game in double digits, with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Also, the team has been shooting well from behind the arc of late, with 19 three-pointers in the last two games.
Prichard expressed that her team knew this game was not going to be easy.
"Rutgers is an extremely talented team," Prichard said. "We knew that to compete [with them] we had to play as a collective unit, and I think we did that for most of the game. We didn't back down, and that is something we should be proud of. I thought we showed a lot of heart and grit, especially on defense, where we were undersized."
An important aspect of the game was head coach Richard Barron's decision to incorporate 11 different players into the lineup. This type of move is made possible by the fact that Princeton works well together as a team.
"This was a complete team effort," Prichard said. "The people on the floor battled together, and the bench had great energy. This was a pivotal game for us. We made improvements and showed a lot of heart."
The Tigers get a chance to redeem themselves against another New Jersey opponent, when they play Rider at home Tuesday evening.
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