Women's Basketball: Tigers trounce Leopards in road opener

The women’s basketball team handled the Lafayette Leopards in an impressive 87-47 rout on Monday night. This was Princeton’s second win in as many games this season, and, so far, it appears Princeton’s success from the last two seasons has carried over.

The Tigers (2-0 overall), after getting off to a somewhat slow start and trailing 9-8 with 14 minutes left in the first half, went on a 27-7 tear in the next 11 minutes to take a 35-16 lead over Lafayette (0-2).

Junior forward Niveen Rasheed led Princeton’s group effort with 22 points and seven rebounds. She added three assists, three blocks and four steals while only turning the ball over once. Senior guard Lauren Edwards added 10 points, including the 1,000th of her career, as did sophomore guard Alex Rodgers. Sophomore guard Nicole Hung added 11 points and four rebounds off the bench.

The Tigers had a masterful defensive game, holding the Leopards to 30.5 percent shooting and 15.4 percent from three-point range while shooting above 40 percent in each category. Lafayette’s leading scorer was center Danielle Fiacco, who had 16 points and a double-double. The hosts also got solid contributions from two rookies, forward Emily Homan and guard Brya Freeland, who each scored 10 points.

“Especially at the beginning of the season, any road win takes a lot of effort and concentration, especially when it’s midweek — or it’s even a Monday or a school day — so we’re proud of everybody’s effort,” Edwards said.

Rasheed has been a big story this year, helping the Tigers tremendously after missing all but 12 games in 2010-11 with a torn ACL. The forward currently leads the team in scoring, averaging 19.5 points per game. Her health is a big change from last season, and it will be a key to the Tigers’ success this year.

She will be a key element to the Tigers’ success, and her health is a big difference from last year’s team.

“She’s a really big competitor and obviously a huge part of this team,” Edwards said. “Scoring-wise, rebounding, she does it all, so we all appreciate her presence and her drive to always win ... She sets the tone for the games, and it’s a lot easier when you have players out there who really want to win and play hard to do that.”

Another notable story from tonight’s game was the success of Princeton’s bench and the significant play of two freshman guards, Blake Dietrick and Mariah Smith. Princeton’s bench, given plenty of playing time, actually outscored the starting five, and its 46 points nearly matched the entire Lafayette team’s scoring output.

Dietrick’s seven points came in only eight minutes, as the point guard was not afraid to attack the basket. Princeton also got important contributions from senior guard Laura Johnson, sophomore forward Kristen Helmstetter and junior center Meg Bowen.

Having so many players who can contribute will help the Tigers throughout the 28-game regular season.

“This whole season is a really long grind. Making sure that the bench and the younger players get their experience now and get comfortable on the court is really important for us, so that we can depend on them as much as with any other player on the team,” Edwards said. “I think they’re all growing really fast, and two of the freshmen made contributions tonight, which is really nice.”