The Princeton women's basketball team found itself in murky yet familiar waters Saturday night in Jadwin Gym as it trailed by double digits midway through the second half.
But, unlike the previous night when the Tigers rallied from a 13-point deficit to top Columbia 79-73, Princeton's late surge fell just short as Cornell handed the Tigers their first loss in league play with a 70-66 victory.
After senior forward Casey Lockwood's layup put Princeton (8-9 overall, 2-1 Ivy League) on top, 66-65, with 48 seconds to play, the Big Red answered with two free throws of its own to take the lead once and for all. After a Tiger turnover and two more Cornell free throws by guard Claire Perry, the league's leading free-throw shooter, Princeton trailed by three with under a half-minute to play. On the ensuing possession, sophomore guard Caitlin O'Neill had a look at a long three-pointer but missed, sealing the Tigers' fate.
Princeton opened up an early three-point lead less than three minutes into the game before Cornell (6-9, 2-0), which was coming off a come-from-behind win over Penn on Friday night, ripped off seven straight to lead 10-6. The Big Red held the lead until midway through the first half when the Tigers put together a 7-0 run, aided by two field goals by junior forward Meagan Cowher and a Lockwood layup, to take the lead at 21-20. But the end of the first half belonged to Cornell as the Big Red players drove through the lane with ease, finishing six layups over the last seven minutes to lead by five at intermission, 33-28.
In the beginning of the second half, the Tigers went cold from the field and allowed the Big Red to build a 13-point lead at 52-39 with 12 minutes, 30 seconds left in the game. After cutting the lead to 56-50, Cowher scored five straight points to bring Princeton within one with just over six minutes to play. Two minutes later, the Tigers completed the comeback and took the lead on an O'Neill three-pointer, 61-60.
But Princeton could not deliver the knockout punch as O'Neill, who finished with eight points, missed a three, and junior forward Ali Prichard turned the ball over on the Tigers' two ensuing possessions. After Cornell came back to take a three-point lead, Prichard tied the game at 64 with just under two minutes left in regulation, setting the stage for the frantic final minutes when Cornell came out on top.
Overshadowed by the loss was Cowher's career-high 35-point performance, the most points scored by any Princeton women's basketball player since 1989. Cowher also tallied 30 points in back-to-back games for the first time in her career after finishing with 31 on Friday night at Columbia. Cowher, Princeton's leading scorer averaging 19 points per game, now stands just 34 points shy of 1,000 for her career.
Cowher, who also added 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season, was the lone Tiger in double digits, while Cornell had four players scoring more than 10 points on the night.
The loss might best be summed up by the disparity in shooting performance. While Princeton managed to shoot just 37.5 percent from the field, Cornell had the hot hand, converting more than half of its field goal attempts. It was the third-worst shooting performance for the Tigers this season and proved to be the first game in which Princeton outrebounded its opponent, 41-30, but lost.
Prior to Saturday night's loss, Princeton had earned itself a reputation for coming back from double-digit deficits. In late December at Duquesne, the Tigers rallied from 14 down for the victory and Friday night at home against the Lions, the team dug itself out of a 13-point hole for its second Ivy League win of the season.
Against Columbia one night earlier on the same court, things could not have been more different from the match against Cornell, with the exception of that 13-point deficit. It was Princeton that had the hot hand, shooting a season-high 50 percent from the field, and it was Princeton who got out-rebounded, 41-36.
The Lions roared out of the gate, hitting six of their first eight field goals to establish an early 16-11 lead, before eventually stretching that lead to 39-26 with 2:43 left in the first half. But Princeton reeled Columbia back in on the back of a 9-0 run to close the half, with the final five points coming off the fingertips of Cowher.
Princeton finally caught the Lions with under eight minutes to play in the game when Lockwood tied the game at 60 with a free throw. A Cowher layup and a Lockwood jumper on the ensuing possession completed the Tigers' 7-0 run that put them in front for good.
Lockwood scored 16 points on the night and Prichard chipped in 11 as she reached double digits for the third straight game. Sophomore forward Whitney Downs blocked five shots against Columbia, the most blocks by a Princeton player in the past five seasons.
After a three-week layoff for finals, the Tigers will hit the court on Feb. 2 and 3 to face Yale and Brown in Ivy League play.
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