Women's Basketball: Tourney journey begins

Those who haven’t been following the women’s basketball team this season are missing out on what looks to be the hottest squad Princeton has seen in years.

Though preseason reports pointed to the team’s youth as a weakness — currently there is just one upperclassman starter playing with two freshmen and two sophomores — the Tigers’ strength clearly stems from an extremely talented group of young players. Those players have led Princeton (13-2 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) to an incredibly promising season: The Tigers have regularly blown out their opponents by more than 20 points and look poised to make it to the NCAA tournament for the first time in Princeton women’s basketball history.

On Jan. 29, the Tigers face off against Brown (3-11, 0-0), a relatively lackluster squad that has struggled so far this season, trailing opponents by an average of 15 points per game and shooting .326 from the floor while allowing opponents to average .402. The Tigers, however, return from a 20-day exam-period hiatus to face a Bears squad that has been playing and practicing all month in preparation for their first Ivy matchup. The vacation time might not be enough to keep a more talented Princeton team from overcoming Brown, but it could handicap the Tigers, especially early in the game.

“We are still practicing, but due to our exam schedule, it is going to vary [among] team members, but we are still working on things,” sophomore center Devona Allgood said. “I think that [the time off] could negatively affect us if we did take those days as relaxed practices since we don’t have a game until the 29th, but everyone is pretty devoted to bettering themselves, so when we are in practice, we always play hard. As long as we play hard in practice, we should have a good outcome against Brown.”

One of many factors that should still give Princeton an advantage over Brown is the Bears’ one-dimensional offensive attack. Brown relies almost exclusively on guard Christina Johnson to knock down buckets, and in games where she is effectively locked down by the defense, the Bears have struggled to earn a win. Though guard Hannah Passafuime will certainly be a threat on the floor as well, if the Tigers can keep one of these two players from scoring, Brown will not have many other weapons to work with.

“We all sort of understand that in Ivy League, games are so crazy and competitive that any night could be any team's night. You just never know,” Allgood said. “A team could come out much stronger one night than the night before. It totally depends on the day. We just have to come out strong every day, because there are going to be teams that have a great game [and we] need to be prepared.”

Given Princeton’s propensity for scoring, however, even if the Bears do manage to get a few points, the Tigers should have no problem forming an aggressive response. Though much of the Tigers’ scoring strength lies in the team’s depth, it is impossible to ignore the impact freshman forward Niveen Rasheed has had on the scoreboard. Named Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Monday, Rasheed’s numbers explain what all of the buzz is about: She leads the team with 16.9 points per game, has a .528 field-goal percentage and averages 7.9 rebounds per game. But if the Bears’ plan is to simply focus on stopping Rasheed — a near impossible feat in itself — then the Tigers can give more touches to some of their other offensive powerhouses, like Allgood, who was awarded Ivy League Player of the Week on Monday.

“She is fearless,” Allgood said of Rasheed. “As a freshman, usually you ... don’t know what to expect, but she came in fearless, and because of that, other teams are going to have to deal with her. Whenever they do try to double her that leaves openings for other people. Even on defense, she is great.”

With so much in Princeton’s favor, the only thing that could trip up the Tigers tonight is their own success. Blowing out opponents by 20 points a game may look nice on paper — indeed, it’s not often that the women’s team heavily outscores the men’s — but it might not be the best physical or mental preparation for Princeton. Not only have the Tigers rarely had to fight for a close game, but with such a stellar start to the season behind them and an opponent tonight that is far less talented than they are, the Tigers risk getting complacent or, at the very least, losing the hunger that drives teams to do great things. It’s hard to imagine anything stopping Princeton from trouncing a team that has lost five in a row and is coming to play on Princeton’s home court, but as the 2007 New England Patriots can attest, being the best only puts a giant target on your back and doesn’t guarantee you anything.

Correction

An earlier version of this article incorrectly gave Brown's team shooting percentage as ".326 percent."