W. hoops wins two, prepares for Penn

Like a rising ocean, the women's basketball team has slowly been climbing up and submerging the Ivy league opposition, teams that had previously defeated it. Now there remains only one dry peak left on the sinking continent: Penn.

Friday and Saturday, Princeton drowned Yale, 57-46, and Brown, 60-50, as a result of the spectacular improvement in the Tiger defense that has been growing the past six games. Tonight their defense faces the final test against the Quakers, who have been averaging 76 points per game this season.

"[It was] probably one of our best weekends of the year," senior captain and forward Kate Thirolf said. "We definitely commanded both games."

This weekend Princeton kept the opposition to 50 points or lower. The Elis, who had formerly racked up 67 points against the Tigers at Jadwin Gym, were held to just 46 points in Friday's game, while the Tiger offense fell upon them like a tidal wave, racking up 57 points. With Thirolf's 20 points and six rebounds, and senior captain and guard Maggie Langlas' 11 points, Yale never got a chance to learn the dog paddle.

Brown was gasping for air early in the first half, at the end of which the Tigers led 29-26. A 9-3 run by the Bears in the second half knocked the Princeton lead down to one, 50-49, but Brown never felt the wind on its faces. The Tigers sent them down with a 10-1 run built mainly from a perfect 8-for-8 from the line.

"We're doubling in the post," head coach Liz Feeley said. "[We're] communicating better on the defensive end [and] getting there a lot earlier than we were earlier in the season."

The shooting took care of itself with Princeton taking control of the defense. Thirolf and Langlas led the way with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Not far behind was freshman guard Allison Cahill, who tallied 10 points.

At the beginning of their Ivy season, the Tigers lost to Penn by 10 points. But then, they allowed the Quakers to get 92 points as Penn opened up a 22 point-lead in the first ten minutes alone. But the new and improved Princeton defense will work to prevent exactly this tonight at the Palestra.

"If we continue our defense, then we should come out with the victory," Langlas said. "Our defense was great this weekend. Our offense tends to take care of itself when our defense [is working]."

In particular, the Tigers will keep an eye out for guard Mandy West and forward Diana Caramanico, who together scored 58 points against Princeton. These two, along with guard Erin Ladley, have been taking 80 percent of the shots for the team throughout the season, and stopping them will be key to a Tiger success.

"They have a one-two punch," Feeley said. "We just need to limit their opportunities in the shot attempts."

Though Princeton made an incredible comeback in its last bout against Penn — as the Tigers did in many of the early games they barely lost — it will try to avoid the situation the second time around. The Tigers can outshoot Penn if the defense does its job.

End of an era

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Langlas, Thirolf and senior center Brooke Lockwood will end their collegiate careers tonight at the Palestra. Together the three have provided Princeton with solid leadership and talent for the past four years.

"It's going to be great, as a senior, to end my career at the Palestra," Thirolf said.

"I can't even wait for the game," Langlas said.

With such a successful end-of-the-year run, marred only by a second loss to Harvard, which floated above the tide by means of a few points, the trio is looking to end their careers with a glorious victory against archrival Penn.

"It would be great to see the seniors go out with a bang," Feeley said.