During the past two weeks, the women's basketball team has played two of its best games of the season. For most teams, this would be a great harbinger for the upcoming conference season. But not for Princeton.
These two well-played games were arrived at by adding together a half from each of the Tigers' four contests over break. In its four best halves, Princeton outscored its opponents 107-106. In the other four, the Tigers were trounced 189-89. The result of this inconsistency was four losses against superior competition.
Following the conclusion of the semester's classes, the Tigers (2-11) flew to Honolulu to participate in the Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic. While in Hawaii, Princeton faced some of its strongest opponents of the season.
'Not so good'
"The competition in Hawaii was really good," senior captain Kate Thirolf said. "Basically we played three good first halves and three not-so-good second halves.
The Tigers opened play in the four-team round-robin tournament with a contest against Southeastern Conference power Vanderbilt (11-2) Dec. 21. With three starters over six feet, the Commodores took advantage of their height from the opening tip, seizing a 16-5 lead within the first seven minutes.
Princeton's strong defensive play held Vanderbilt in check, however, for the remainder of the first half and the Tigers trailed by only a dozen at intermission an admirable performance considering the power of their foe.
The Commodores demonstrated their strength in the second half by shooting an amazing 80 percent from the floor and outscoring the Tigers, 61-18, in one of the worst halves in Princeton basketball history. The final score was a disappointing 85-30.
The resilient squad regrouped overnight and came out of the gates quickly against tournament host Hawaii (8-4) the next day. Despite loud fans at the Stan Sheriff Center and officiating partial to the home Wahine, the Tigers jumped out to a 13-4 lead in the opening minutes. From her forward position, Thirolf paced the team with eight points while freshman guard Allison Cahill had four steals as Princeton took a 31-29 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, Princeton struggled in every aspect of the game. The Tigers were outscored 41-21 and shot a dismal 19 percent from the field 6-of-31 in the final stanza, before succumbing, 70-52.
Back in action
Princeton's last chance at victory in the tropics came against Fairfield (9-4) a team out of the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference the following afternoon. Senior guard Maggie Langlas spearheaded a 14-0 Tiger run in the opening frame that put the Stags in a 13-point hole with 8:37 left. With 1:23 remaining in the first half, Langlas made a three-point goal from the left corner, making her only the 12th player in Princeton history to score 1,000 points in a career. Her shot propelled Princeton to a 31-22 lead at halftime.
For the third consecutive day, the Tigers played poorly in the final frame, squandering their lead while shooting a poor 27 percent from the floor. The only consolation for Princeton came with three minutes remaining, when Thirolf hit a three-pointer to become the 13th Tiger to score 1,000 career points. In the end, the Stags won 66-55.
"I was so happy we did it in the same game," Langlas said of the milestone achieved by her and Thirolf.
After a break for the holidays, Princeton returned to action this Sunday at Providence, a school in the Big East conference. Langlas and Thirolf the team's two leading scorers racked up two fouls each in the first few minutes, forcing head coach Liz Feeley to go to her bench in the early going.
Despite playing underclassmen for most of the second half, the Tigers outscored the Friars, 33-31. This was not enough to overcome a 17-point halftime deficit, as Princeton fell, 74-59. Sophomore forward Lauren Rigney and Cahill led the Tigers with 13 points each.
"[Against Providence] we showed we have depth," Thirolf said. "A lot of people stepped up. Still, you can't play 20 or 30 minutes; you have to play for 40 to win.
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