Cowher's 18 points power first win

In the season's first three games on the road, the women's basketball team was unable to stand tall against the opposition. Back at Jadwin Gym, the Tigers boxed Lehigh out of the paint. Using a physical one-on-one defense and a strong effort on the defensive glass, the Tigers topped the Mountain Hawks 61-49 last night, notching their first win of the season.

The solid defensive effort gave Princeton (1-3 overall) confidence on offense, which allowed it to break down Lehigh's (1-2) relentless full-court press. Just five minutes into the game, all five Mountain Hawks began to crowd into the backcourt, trying to stifle the Tigers' offensive drives. Though Lehigh would continue this pressure for nearly all of the remaining 35 minutes, Princeton incorporated sharp passes and aggressive ball-handling to render the press ineffective.

"There's a difference between breaking the press and breaking to score," junior forward Whitney Downs said. "At first we were playing it safe, just trying to get across half-court, but then our coach told us to attack the press, and that's when we started to break to score."

Against the Mountain Hawks, for the first time all season, Princeton managed to get off to an early lead. Following the tipoff, the Tigers went on a 6-0 run before Lehigh scored four unanswered points from the foul line.

The Mountain Hawks' full-court press, tight interior defense and strong rebounding threatened to shut down offensive opportunities for the Tigers, but Princeton responded with a 15-4 run over the next nine minutes, 46 seconds. Fueling the drive were three three-point goals by freshman guard Addie Micir, the last of which put the Tigers up 21-8 with 3:59 to go in the half. Micir also played a key role in shattering the Lehigh press, repeatedly passing the ball behind her back to fake out defenders while driving into the frontcourt.

The Mountain Hawks answered Micir's three-point touch with an outside-shooting display of their own, hitting three times from beyond the arc over the remainder of the half.

Still holding a 29-23 lead at the first-half buzzer, the Tigers came out of the locker room on the attack, this time driving into the heart of Lehigh's defense to rack up points. Senior forward Meagan Cowher threaded quick passes underneath the basket to sophomore guard Tani Brown and junior center Julia Berger to help the Tigers jump to a 35-27 lead with 17:18 to go.

Just a minute later, junior guard Caitlin O'Neill returned the favor and slipped Cowher the ball, which she laid in the basket for her 10th point of the night. Cowher ended up notching her second double-double of the season and the 15th of her career, scoring 18 points and snatching 11 rebounds.

Head coach Courtney Banghart was impressed with her team's aggressive effort on offense and defense.

"We weren't shelled by the press like we were against Delaware State — definitely a mental improvement," Banghart said. "On defense, we knew exactly what [Lehigh] was going to run, so we gutted it out and really busted up their sets."

Lehigh refused to go down without a fight, continuing to foul into the game's waning seconds even when the outcome seemed secure. The Tigers maintained their composure, though, and a pair of Cowher free throws with 10 seconds remaining gave Princeton its final winning margin.

With their first victory finally under their belts, the Tigers can look forward to their game on Saturday against Lafayette in Jadwin Gym at 2 p.m. But however nice a win looks, Banghart insists the team isn't focused on its record.

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"It's not about outcome, it's about improvement," Banghart said. "We've been improving, and we have to keep improving to be ready for the Ivy season."

With the newly tenacious Tigers coming into their own, the rest of the Ivy League might need to get ready too.