After a heartbreaking 54-53 buzzer-beater loss to Rutgers last Thursday, the women’s basketball team’s 69-52 victory over Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa., could be summed up in one word: rebound. Princeton (2-1) became the first team to beat the Mountain Hawks (1-2) at home since the 2007-08 season, ending Lehigh’s home winning streak at 33 games.“I was a little bit worried. We were all pretty heartbroken after that Rutgers loss,” head coach Courtney Banghart said. “It’s just a testament to them. They remain coachable, they play through just about anything, and they make adjustments as necessary.”Banghart attributed the turnaround partially to a return to dominance on the boards, which she said is crucial for the Tigers to continue to outshine their opponents offensively. Against Rutgers, Princeton got outrebounded 35-34, but the team outrebounded Lehigh 43-28 on Sunday. Most crucially, the Tigers posted 16 offensive rebounds to the Hawks’ four.Sophomore forward Niveen Rasheed, who on Monday was named Ivy League Player of the Week, played a large part in Princeton’s success on the boards, posting 10 total rebounds, two of which were offensive. Junior center Devona Allgood led the team with four offensive rebounds, and junior guard Lauren Edwards had three.“It gives us a lot of second-chance points, as well as keeping the other team limited on offense,” Edwards said.While the Tigers led off the game with a 9-2 run in the first five minutes, the Hawks were not going to let their home winning streak come to an end without a fight. They scored eight unanswered points in the next two minutes to take the lead. There were seven total lead changes in the first half.“Our shots weren’t falling, but we always try to make up for that either on defense or rebounding,” Edwards said. “We got back into the game by stepping up our defense.”The Tigers have been particularly strong on defense so far this season. They are limiting their opponents to a mere 47.7 points per game, good for first in the Ivy League. While limiting Rutgers to 54 points, they demonstrated their ability to prevent a big, quick, aggressive team from driving into the paint. On Sunday they showed that they can also shut down a team like Lehigh, which favors passing and jump shots around the perimeter.In addition to stepping up their defense, Princeton responded to the back-and-forth game by substituting in bench players to revitalize the energy on the court. Junior guard Laura Johnson came off the bench and scored 12 points, going 3-6 from behind the arc. Additionally, senior guard and co-captain Krystal Hill entered the game midway through the first half and racked up three assists.“When they came in off the bench and gave us that little spark, that was huge,” said Rasheed, who had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. “It was definitely a team contribution.”With just under five minutes remaining in the first half, Hill received a pass around midfield from senior guard and co-captain Addie Micir, who was in the backcourt. Hill dribbled up to the arc, where she looked for an open teammate. When she noticed her defender lose focus momentarily, she drove into the paint, splitting two defenders, and dished to Allgood, who sunk the uncontested layup. The play made the score 28-22 in favor of the Tigers, who then ran away with the game.“We locked down defensively, and we had an offensive surge that put us up by 20 in the second half,” Micir said. “We just had to battle through, and we made the shots we had to on offense.”Four Princeton players scored in double digits on Sunday, with Edwards coming close with nine. One of Princeton’s core strengths is this constant scoring threat from everyone on the court, Banghart noted.“When we’re playing well offensively, it’s the fact that we’re sharing the ball and everyone’s looking to be a threat,” Banghart said.
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