Women's Basketball: Princeton travels to face cellar dwellers

Princeton (9-14 overall, 4-5 Ivy League) will travel to Providence, R.I., to tackle Brown (3-21, 1-9) on Friday night at 7 p.m. The Tigers will deal with Yale (10-14, 3-7) — which narrowly ousted Princeton earlier this season 56-54 in Jadwin Gymnasium — on Saturday evening at 7 p.m.

The Bulldogs and the Bears sit seventh and eighth in the Ivy League, respectively.

The Tigers are coming off a pair of agonizingly close losses to the top two teams in the conference. Dartmouth (14-9, 9-0) squeaked by Princeton 43-42 last weekend. Harvard (15-8, 7-2) rallied past the Tigers in the second half to come out on top, 54-50. Both games were on the road.

“Playing so well against the top two teams in the league in their gyms was so promising,” head coach Courtney Banghart said. “What happened on Friday night [against the Crimson], when we needed a stop defensively, we couldn’t come up with one. On Saturday [against Dartmouth], we got two stops, but we couldn’t make a shot.”

Princeton took the undefeated Big Green to double-overtime earlier this season.

The problem for Princeton, then, has been putting the pieces together: The Tigers have shown that they can compete with the conference elite, but they haven’t demonstrated they can finish like them.

Princeton played the Bears two weeks ago at home and simply dominated. The Tigers rushed out to a 35-19 halftime lead and never looked back en route to a 66-41 victory.

Brown’s lone Ivy League victory came against the Bulldogs in New Haven, Conn., when it inched past Yale with a 64-62 victory in its first Ancient Eight game of the season. The Bears have dropped nine straight games since then. Their closest margin of defeat was 12.

The Bulldogs ought to prove a tougher test for Princeton. Yale is led by guard Melissa Colborne, who is second in the Ivy League in scoring with 16.2 points per game. She also shoots a solid 46.3 percent from the field. In addition to her scoring, Colborne is eighth in the league with 2.7 assists per game. Colborne is also extremely accurate: She has made 143 free throws so far in league play, the top of the Ivies by far.

Last time against Princeton, Colborne contributed 17 points, going a perfect seven-of-seven on free throws.

She drained two crucial free throws in the last minute-and-a-half to put the Bulldogs up for good.

The Tigers will have to control Colborne as well as limit her supporting cast. It’s a great opportunity for Princeton to redeem itself after its previous performance, which Banghart thinks was one of the weakest efforts of the season.

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“I think one way to prepare for Yale is to show the kids the film of our first game. That was the game where we played the least inspired,” Banghart said. “How we have defined ourselves is that we play really hard. The first thing we need to do is play with more energy defensively. We also need to challenge more of Colborne’s shots and do a better job on the defensive glass and on penetration.”

Princeton’s calling card has been defense all season. Since league play began, the Tigers are allowing a stingy 39.2 percent of their opponents’ shots to go down — second only to Dartmouth.

Princeton’s offense continues to rely on a balanced scoring attack. Sophomore guard Addie Micir, with 11.7 points per game, is the only player averaging in the double digits for the team.

Behind her is a cluster of players that contribute offensively. Senior guard Whitney Downs averages 9.6 points per game on 46.3 percent shooting. Freshman guard Lauren Edwards averages nine points per game.

Freshman center Devona Allgood has been spectacular since league play began. She has averaged 7.4 points per game for the season, but that average has jumped to 11.2 points per game as of late. Allgood also leads the team with 6.5 rebounds per game.

This weekend, Princeton will try to avenge its loss to Yale, but the Tigers will also look to do something more: gain valuable experience that every young team needs to reach its full potential.

“Last year, we weren’t in a lot of close games. We’re really young and inexperienced,” Banghart said. “I think experience, having been there before, it certainly helps.”

This is the first opportunity for many of the Tigers to get a taste of competitive Ivy League play. The next step is to make sure that experience goes to good use.

“The next step for us is to learn how to win [the games],” Banghart said. “It’s a combination of getting stops and then making plays … We have to be able to come up with those wins.”