Women's Basketball: Jadwin streak on line vs. Rutgers

This Saturday, the women’s basketball team will play its second home game in a row, tipping off against Rutgers at 7 p.m.

The Tigers are 5-1 in their first six games of the season, and they look to continue their success this weekend. Princeton is currently 3-0 at Jadwin Gymnasium, which should provide the team with some confidence heading into the matchup.

On Wednesday, the Tigers beat Lehigh, 86-68, and they will look to keep up their momentum against the Scarlet Knights.

So far this season, the Tigers have played strong offensively. They are shooting 44.7 percent from the floor and have converted on 43 of 113 three-point attempts. The team has also made 63 of 87 attempts from the charity stripe.

Princeton’s offense is led by freshman guard Niveen Rasheed, who paces the Tigers with a team-high 17.0 points per game, junior forward Addie Micir (13.0) and sophomore guard Lauren Edwards (14.0).

Defensively, the Tigers have outstole, outblocked and outrebounded all of their opponents. Edwards leads the team with seven steals, closely followed by Rasheed, who has six steals and three blocks. Rasheed leads the team in rebounds, collecting 7.8 per game, followed by sophomore center Devona Allgood, who is second on the team with 6.8 rebounds per matchup.

The Tigers are looking forward to the game this weekend, but they also know that it will be a tough matchup.

“Rutgers is always a good team with a lot of talent,” Edwards said. “So it will be a good challenge for us to play against such good athletes and such skilled players. But we have already proven to ourselves that we can play with anybody, so we’re going to go into this game wanting to win, just like any other game.”

“It will take a lot of discipline to beat a team like Rutgers,” senior guard Tani Brown added. “Since they are a big and athletic team, we will all need to crash the boards and communicate on defense.”

The Scarlet Knights are led in scoring, assists and steals by guard Brittany Ray. Ray, who maintains a blog on Rutgers’ athletics website, has expressed frustration over the team’s recent play.

“It felt like we regressed instead of moving forward,” she wrote on Thursday about the Scarlet Knights’ recent loss to Temple. “There was a total lack of effort, no will to win and a lack of focus … We have to stay consistent and that is definitely something we must work on. The team will continue to also stay positive because that’s the only thing that will lead us into the right direction.”

Princeton will need to play strong, aggressive basketball throughout the entirety of the game if it hopes to beat Rutgers.

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After shooting 52.6 percent in the first half of the game against Lehigh, the Tigers lost their rhythm in the second stanza and shot only a meager 29.4 percent. The Scarlet Knights will be looking to break a two-game losing streak this Saturday and regain some lost momentum.

“We will continue to get better despite our loss because there is no doubt we can compete with high-caliber teams. it’s just a matter of our will and determination,” Ray wrote.

Rutgers’ inconsistent play ought to give Princeton a boost of confidence as it prepares for this Saturday’s primetime matchup.

Brown, for one, is optimistic about the Tigers’ chances.

“Rutgers has a storied tradition of athletic players and excellent coaching,” Brown said. “But this is also the most talented Princeton basketball team I have ever been a part of, so I can proudly say we are going for nothing less than a win.”