Women's Basketball: Tigers' win streak ends vs. Lehigh

Senior guard Jessica Berry spoke frankly about the offense’s performance in the 20-point loss.

“We’re not going to win many games shooting 23 percent from the floor,” Berry said.

Princeton (3-2 overall) headed into the game on the upswing, bouncing back in convincing fashion after losing to then-No. 2 Rutgers. The Tigers stormed to an 88-41 victory over Stony Brook before taking down Fairleigh Dickinson, 62-47. Both wins came at home, where Princeton has been far more successful this season.

Though the Tigers had defeated Lehigh (5-1) in their past three meetings, the force of recent history could not propel Princeton to a road victory Sunday. Perhaps the team’s poor shooting percentage can be blamed for its demise: Against the Mountain Hawks, the Tigers shot almost as badly as they did in their blowout loss to the Scarlet Knights, converting on less than a quarter of their field-goal attempts.

Perhaps it was their uncharacteristically bad free-throw percentage: a season-low 50 percent, compared to Lehigh’s astonishing 90 percent efficiency from the charity stripe. Perhaps it was a case of struggling on the road after playing well in the friendly confines of Jadwin Gymasium. What is certain, however, is that the Mountain Hawks managed to run away with the game after halftime, taking a six-point lead into the locker room and leaving the court with a blowout victory.

Lehigh proved to be much fiercer competition than Princeton’s past two opponents. Whereas the Tigers were able to jump out to early leads in both of those games, it was an entirely different story against the Mountain Hawks. The waning minutes before halftime served as a microcosm of the closely contested first half: The Tigers had a 12-2 run followed by a 12-0 run by Lehigh. In the first 20 minutes, the lead changed hands eight times, and all signs pointed to an exciting second half.

After a Mountain Hawk run to start the second half and a rebuttal run by Princeton, the score stood at 40-33 with about 10 minutes remaining. After that point, however, Lehigh managed to pull away. As the scoreboard kept track of an ever more daunting Mountain Hawk lead, the Tigers struggled to muster the confidence and composure to pull themselves back into competition.

In the end, Princeton lost not because of lack of effort but rather due to a failure to execute, especially on the offense end of the court. Leading the Tigers on offense was senior guard Jessica Berry, with 12 points. Sophomore guard Addie Micir, the team’s leading scorer, added seven points and snatched a team-high six rebounds.

“Like our loss to Rutgers, our team likes to look at the things we did well and stay positive, while still looking at and working on the things that need improving,” Micir said. “Today, we were not able to make shots, and it’s hard to win games without doing that. We played hard and held it together defensively but struggled to finish.”

Micir emphasized that Princeton’s defense still managed to put on a strong showing, holding a Lehigh squad that averages more than 80 points per game to only 63 while gathering 38 rebounds, six blocks and 12 steals. What the Tigers intend to improve upon is an offense that too often appeared listless and sluggish.

“Though we hate to lose, it’s important to stay positive at this point in the season [and] focus on learning from the Lehigh game as we look forward to Ivy League play,” Berry said.

Looking to recover, the Tigers will play in the Collier’s International Classic tournament at Cal beginning Dec. 6 before starting Ivy League play with a Jan. 10 home game against Penn.