Women's Basketball: Edwards paves way to blowout win

Five minutes into its game against Lafayette at Jadwin Gymnasium on Saturday, the women’s basketball team forced a turnover and pushed the ball up the court to sophomore forward Lauren Edwards on the wing. Edwards let fly from beyond the arc and hit nothing but net.

Fifteen seconds later, the Leopards committed another turnover, and Edwards found the ball in her hands again after a kick-out from freshman guard Niveen Rasheed. Again Edwards took the three, and again she connected, giving the Tigers a 15-1 lead.

Plays like this were repeated all game long — the Tigers forced Lafayette turnovers, and Edwards made the Leopards pay on the other end.

The sophomore finished with a season-high 23 points, including 15 in the first 10 minutes of play, helping Princeton (7-2) bring down the Leopards (2-9), 80-47.

“My coaches have told me over the year that I need to shoot more from the outside,” Edwards said. “I came into Princeton basically having shot five threes in high school, and everything was going straight to the basket. Now I’m trying to expand my range, which seems to be working.”

But the three-pointer was far from Edwards’ only weapon Saturday, as her full arsenal was on display against the Leopards. She ran the court well, scoring eight points in transition, and hit all four free throw attempts.

Edwards was a threat on the defensive end as well, picking up four steals and blocking two shots on one possession early in the second half.

Princeton’s defense turned in yet another outstanding performance, allowing the Leopards to shoot just 32.1 percent from the floor.

Lafayette’s two leading scorers entering the game, guards LaKeisha Wright and Lauren Jackson, combined to shoot just 6-of-25 from the floor. Meanwhile, the Tigers notched 19 steals, giving them an incredible 41 in two games last week, and converted the Leopards’ turnovers into 37 points.

“We knew that they rely on their sets, and they’re a pretty rhythm team, so we had to be disruptive,” head coach Courtney Banghart said.

“So we encouraged [our defense] to get out in the lanes a little bit, and we’ve done a lot of scouting in terms of where the passes will be coming from. And it’s a testament to our kids — they’re paying close attention, and they’re getting a bit more feisty on defense,” she added.

The defense was formidable from the start, as it held the Leopards scoreless through the first four minutes, 50 seconds while building a 9-0 lead on the other end.

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Lafayette committed six early turnovers and did not make a field goal until the seven-minute mark, when Melissa Downey broke the drought with a three-pointer.

But Downey’s trey energized the Leopards, who went on a 9-0 run to close the margin to five points. Lafayette put in a press to try to pull closer, but the Tigers handled it with ease. Five consecutive points from Edwards opened the lead back to double digits.

The Leopards continued to push the tempo, rebounding well and running off misses to attack the Princeton defense before it could get set. A fast-break layup by forward Elizabeth Virgin, who led the visitors with 15 points, closed the gap to seven with 5:27 left.

The Leopards’ strongest area was rebounding, as they grabbed 20 boards to the Tigers’ 15 in the first half and outrebounded Princeton for the game. This was not expected going into the matchup, as Princeton had grabbed three more boards per game than their opponents, while Lafayette had been outrebounded by an average of almost 14 per contest.

But the Tigers regained control of the pace and recovered, holding Lafayette scoreless while reeling off nine points, capped by a pull-up jumper by junior guard Krystal Hill. Princeton led 36-23 at halftime, and the game would never be closer.

Princeton doubled the ball off the opening inbound, forcing a steal and leading to a second-chance layup on the other end by sophomore center Devona Allgood, who led the Tigers with 10 rebounds. On the next possession, Rasheed picked up another steal and sent the ball down the court to Edwards for an easy bucket.

Princeton continued to run away with the game, led by Micir’s 12 second-half points. The Tigers outscored Lafayette by 20 in the period en route to the blowout victory.

The victory snaps a two-game losing streak for Princeton in its annual meeting with the Leopards. Edwards is certainly looking forward to next year’s matchup, as she has Lafayette’s number: She dropped 26 points, including four treys, in the Tigers’ 66-64 last-second loss last year.