Princeton's lockdown 'D' downs NJIT

The women's basketball team spent Wednesday night in Newark engaged in a battle for New Jersey.

After just 15 minutes on the court, Princeton (3-6 overall) had clear control over rival New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). The winds changed in the second half, as the Highlanders (1-6), having defeated a formidable University of Maryland Baltimore County team earlier this season, appeared to be working on another upset. But the Tigers ultimately held on to their lead to pull out a 56-45 win.

Princeton came out strong defensively and kept the Highlanders off the board for the first seven minutes of the game. The intense defensive play allowed the Tigers to jump to a 20-2 lead with six minutes left in the half.

"We opened the game in our full-court man-to-man package," head coach Courtney Banghart said. "Our defense has made drastic improvements since we started the year."

By halftime, NJIT had cut the lead to 11 points, keeping the Tigers on their toes. While Princeton had double NJIT's shooting percentage in the first half, 34.4 percent to 17.2 percent, the team could not keep up the pace and was outshot in the second half, 30.4 percent to 34.5 percent.

With seven minutes left in the game, the Highlanders closed the gap to 42-39. The Tigers responded sharply with a 7-0 run, but the Highlanders began to catch up again and cut Princeton's lead to 49-45 with four minutes, 28 seconds left.

After this glimpse at an upset, though, the Tigers stepped up defensively and held NJIT scoreless for the rest of the game.

"We executed our defensive game plan well," junior guard Caitlin O'Neill said. "We wanted to force them to take outside shots, and that is exactly what they ended up having to do."

Though the Princeton defense never let the Highlanders take the lead, NJIT did come a little too close for comfort. The Tigers gave up 22 turnovers to NJIT's 15, but they made up the difference by outrebounding the Highlanders 50-34.

"We are still careless with the basketball and are having too many turnovers," Banghart said.

Offensively, the Tigers were able to ensure that senior forward Meagan Cowher remained dangerous in the game. Last weekend, Duquesne was able to hold Cowher to just 10 points, putting the pressure on the rest of the Tigers to make up the points.

This week, Cowher was back as the leading scorer, fighting through triple-team coverage to put up 13 points and adding a team-high 11 rebounds for her 17th career double-double. She has moved up one more spot in the team's all-time scoring list, taking sixth place with 1,296 career points.

California up next

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The Tigers will have their hands full this weekend as they defend Jadwin Gym against No. 11 University of California-Berkeley on Saturday night. California (9-1) defeated No.20 Vanderbilt, 67-59, last week. This weekend's game will mark the first time the Tigers and the Bears have ever met.

The Bears will challenge Princeton on both sides of the ball. Defensively, California is on school-record pace in both scoring defense and field goalpercentage defense. The Tigers will need to be even more effective than they were against the Highlanders in opening up shots for all their players and keeping Cowher successful in the paint.

The Tigers' defense will also be tested, as California has averaged 68.6 points per game for the team's best average since the 1995-96 season. This weekend marks the Bears' final non-conference road trip this season, and the Tigers should expect the Bears to come at full pace as they gear up for league play.

The Tigers showed improvement on both sides of the ball against NJIT, and with emphasis in practice on their remaining weaknesses in ball control and turnovers, they just might hand the Bears their second loss of the season.