Princeton aims to snap losing streak

Losing streaks happen to every team, at all levels of play. The need to avoid them is a given, but it is the manner in which a team breaks such a streak that shows its true colors.

This weekend the women's basketball team (10-13 overall, 4-5 Ivy League) faces a challenge in its quest to break a four-game losing streak. Princeton will take on the best that the Ivy League has to offer: No. 2 Dartmouth (13-10, 7-2) on Friday night and then No. 1 Harvard (8-1, 10-12) on Saturday night.

Last weekend, Princeton took a two-game losing streak on the road to Cornell and Columbia and fought hard. The team's 69-66 loss to the Big Red occurred in the game's final seconds and last Saturday's 58-53 defeat at Columbia came after the Tigers relinquished a six-point second half lead. They played well enough to win in both contests but twice fell short.

Looking back at those games, there are a string of good signs that indicate that the team is coming out of the funk that plagued it two weeks ago, when it suffered two tough losses at Harvard and Dartmouth. Against Cornell, paced by senior forward Casey Lockwood's career-high 22 points, the team had three players in double figures — Lockwood, sophomore guard Jessica Berry, and junior forward Meagan Cowher — and the Columbia game marked the first time the Tigers have shot 100 percent from the free throw line. Princeton also improved its field-goal shooting, averaging 45 percent from the floor over both games.

One thing that sets those games apart from the two this weekend is their locations. All of Princeton's last four losses have been on the road, but Friday and Saturday, the Tigers will look to rebound in the friendly confines of Jadwin Gymnasium, where they are 5-2 this season.

In Friday night's showdown against Dartmouth, it will be crucial for the Tigers to protect the ball and stay consistent on offense. The last time the two teams met, the Big Green dealt Princeton a 29-point loss, the worst loss in the 57-game series between the two teams. In that game, the Tigers struggled early and were unable to successfully play catchup. A four-minute Princeton scoreless stretch allowed the Big Green to open an eight-point lead midway through the first half, and Dartmouth never relinquished that lead.

To be successful this weekend, the Tigers will need to avoid those long stretches of offensive absence. Playing from behind forces a team to change its style of play, and for methodical offenses such as Princeton's, that change can mean the difference between smooth execution and choppy deliveries. This offense works best when it controls the pace of play, and when down by a significant margin, that control must be abandoned in favor of a faster, more hurried style of offense.

The Tigers will also need to control the boards, which they failed to do in their first meeting with Dartmouth. In their game two weeks ago, the Big Green outrebounded Princeton 41-29, allowing Dartmouth a myriad of second-chance points. Cutting down on those extra opportunities will be crucial in shutting down a Big Green offense ranked first in scoring differential in the Ivy League.

Perhaps the biggest benefit to playing at home is the lack of travel between games. Two weeks ago, Princeton drove the 260 miles to Cambridge and played Harvard that same day. This weekend, however, the Crimson will play at Princeton a day removed from that same journey and a nighttime showdown with Penn. The difference may seem insignificant, but as the Ivy League season wears on, such traveling takes its toll on a team.

Harvard and Princeton's last meeting, an 80-57 Crimson victory, was the game that started the Tigers' current four-game slide. That contest featured the same problems that plagued Princeton in its first game against Dartmouth.

The Orange and Black failed to dominate the boards and protect the ball and opened the game with extremely cold shooting. Less than five minutes into the first half, the Crimson went on a 16-0 scoring run — in which Princeton was scoreless for over six minutes — and Harvard never looked back.

In order to avoid the same fate Saturday, the Tigers will need to cut down on the turnovers and avoid falling behind early. In its last contest, Harvard forced a season-high 21 Princeton turnovers, resulting in 35 Crimson points. Much like controlling the glass, limiting turnovers gives your opponents fewer opportunities to score and is instrumental in controlling the flow of a game. The Crimson currently field the Ivy League's most potent offense, and limiting its chances is crucial in keeping it off the scoreboard.

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Still, the Tigers will need a solid offensive effort on top of a suffocating defense to be successful this weekend. Against Columbia the team shot 47 percent from the floor, a far cry from the 36 percent it shot against the Crimson two weeks ago, and it will need to continue that hot shooting this weekend.

The last time that the Tigers played these two teams, they struggled mightily on both ends of the court, but it is clear that Princeton is playing a very different brand of basketball heading into this weekend. Coming off two well-played games, and holding home-court advantage, the Tigers will look to reverse the last two week's misfortunes and turn some upsets along the way.