Lions, Big Red coming to town this weekend

Focus. It's important for all Princeton students at this time of year but even more so for winter athletes. With the onset of league play, focus has never been more critical for the women's basketball team. The imminent approach of exams, the recently restful winter break past and Intersession in the not-too-distant future have made focusing on any one category all the more difficult.

Come Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., head coach Richard Barron hopes that the Tigers will have honed their senses in on the immediate task at hand: defeating Columbia (3-10 overall) and Cornell (4-9) as the Orange and Black play host to the New York schools in a weekend series at Jadwin Gym. Neither opponent has begun league play.

"The biggest challenge for us is not balancing the workload because there's a lot of time," Barron said. "The challenge for us is to remain focused and stay sharp with a three-week layoff in the middle of the season."

Off to a 1-0 start in Ivy League play thanks to a 78-72 victory over Penn last week, Princeton (7-8) will look to build on its recent two-game winning streak and stretch it to four. Though neither Columbia nor Cornell appears to be a title contender, the unique nature of Ivy League play makes each and every game a critical contest.

The Tigers would love to head into exam period with a 3-0 record in the conference, but Barron cautions that a strong start will mean nothing if the team fails to continue to play hard night in and night out when the season continues following the basketball break.

"Every game counts. If you want to win the league, you need to play every night," Barron said. "A good start, a good middle, a good finish — they're all important. The team that wins the most is going to win the league."

For Princeton, that means maximizing its strong points and minimizing its weaknesses. Look for the Tigers to continue to push the ball in an effort to get high-percentage shots while minimizing turnovers, the Achilles heel of the team thus far.

Princeton turned the ball over 26 times against Lafayette but still managed to come away with a win. Against the Quakers, however, the Tigers kept that number to a more manageable 17. If that trend continues, the chances are very good that the team will come away with a pair of Ws this weekend.

Barron would also like to see strong defensive efforts to complement the high-octane offense. Solid rebounding and strong interior defense enhance the team's ability to push the ball. When opponents settle for jumpers and lower-percentage shots, the Tigers can quickly push the ball right back the other way.

"We need to rebound the ball well, play good defense without fouling, and our interior post defense needs to improve," Barron said. "We need to give a good physical effort combined with skilled play at both ends of the floor."

Columbia will take the floor in Jadwin with a three-game losing streak in tow in which the Lions have played fairly uncompetitive basketball, losing by large margins in all three games. Columbia has failed to record a victory since Dec. 14.

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The Lions are not a good shooting team, with only two players having field goal percentages of over 40 percent. Their main gun, guard Megan Griffith, shoots just under that mark. When she gets hot, however, the Lions have the ability to be a dangerous team.

The Big Red began the season with seven straight losses but since then has come on a bit, with four victories in its last six games. Its latest match against Binghamton, however, resulted in a very close 60-59 loss.

Cornell boasts a very deep team, with no player averaging more than 24 minutes per game. Forward Jeomi Maduka is the team's most efficient player and scoring leader, with an average of 14.6 points per game on just under 42 percent shooting.

Princeton boasts its own set of weapons, however. Junior forward Meagan Cowher especially appears to be settling into a groove after scoring more than 20 points in three consecutive games. She leads the Tigers at 17.1 points per game.

In general, Princeton's offense has been performing well of late. In the past two games, both victories, the Tigers have poured in 79 and 78 points.

Senior forward and captain Casey Lockwood is second on the team with 9.9 points per game. After that, five players average five points per game or better, meaning that Princeton has a wealth of options from which to produce points.

Barron expects to see more of this offensive production, but he would like to see specific improvement in the changeover from transition offense to the halfcourt offense if the defense gets back in time to prevent the easy baskets.

"If we don't get layups or threes we tend to take a while to set up the offense," Barron said. "We've gotten better with our transition offense, but I'd like to see us bridge that with our halfcourt offense too."

If the Tigers have their way, they'll be pouring in points all weekend long, form and manner irrelevant.