Princeton takes on St. Francis in Brooklyn, hosts Duquesne

The women's basketball team looks to add a few non-conference wins to its resume with two games this weekend. On Thursday night, Princeton travels to Brooklyn, N.Y., to face St. Francis at 7 p.m., before returning home to face Duquesne on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Jadwin Gym.

The Tigers (1-5 overall) have suffered a series of close losses to open the season. To reverse this frustrating trend, Princeton will need to concentrate on playing as a cohesive unit for the full 40 minutes.

"In order to win close games, we need to step up and play better team defense as well as take care of the ball," junior forward Whitney Downs said. "If our defense is sound, it will be easier to stay in games when we are having an off night on offense."

The Tigers have placed increased emphasis on team defense over the past few weeks, and their strategy paid dividends in the second half of last Saturday's game against Lafayette. The Tigers outscored the Terriers 23-11 over an impressive 10-minute span before Lafayette clinched the victory at the free-throw line.

"We are all working to be better on-ball defenders who can contain our players, but when that breaks down, we must have teammates in the lane ready to help," senior captain and forward Meagan Cowher said.

Efficient-help defense will be a necessity this weekend, as both St. Francis and Duquesne boast strong guard tandems. St. Francis is led by senior guards Tiffany Hill, an All-Northeastern Conference selection last season, and Kara Ayers. Duquesne offers an imposing duo of its own in junior Kristi Little and sophomore Keri Pryor.

Princeton will try to put increased pressure on these players in an attempt to speed up the tempo of the game. Junior guard Caitlin O'Neill and sophomore guard Tani Brown will play key defensive roles as they attempt to jumpstart the Tigers' transition offense by forcing turnovers.

On offense, Princeton will continue to feed the ball to Cowher, the team's scoring dynamo. The Tigers' captain is coming off a two-game performance in which she garnered co-Ivy League Player of the Week honors. Her award was due in large part to her performance in the Lafayette game, in which Cowher scored a season-high 32 points and pulled down 13 rebounds.

While Cowher certainly proved herself a force to be reckoned with in the Lafayette game, Princeton was often stuck playing a slow half-court offense against the Terriers, a style that Princeton is trying to move away from this season.

"We are concentrating on trying to play at more of a faster pace to avoid being bogged down in a half-court setting where it is harder for us to use the versatility of our lineup," Downs said. "We need to work on playing at [a faster] pace while avoiding the turnovers that sometimes come in transition situations."

Cowher's versatility in transition could create matchup problems in both games this weekend. St. Francis has three players on their roster over six feet, four inches tall. Though Princeton cannot measure up physically with St. Francis, it is unlikely that the Leopards' forwards will be able to match the Tigers' speed up and down the court. If the Princeton backcourt can hound St. Francis' guards, it could lead to a number of mismatches on offense and some easy buckets for the Tigers.

Unlike St. Francis, Duquesne plays with a lineup similar in size to Princeton's. Since it will be difficult to create fast break opportunities against the Dukes, Princeton will need to keep its turnovers to a minimum. The Tigers will look to continue running against Duquesne. Cowher should create matchup problems in the half-court offense, as the Dukes have no one to counter Cowher's athleticism and versatility.