Women's Basketball: Stingy defense returns at UMBC

With only a day’s rest between games, the women’s basketball team went on the road to earn a clear 56-41 win over University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

The Tigers (7-1) traveled to Maryland to visit UMBC (3-4) only two days after losing to No. 24 Delaware, which snapped Princeton’s 26-game win streak in Jadwin Gymnasium.

“We didn’t have a lot of time to sulk or be hung up about the loss,” sophomore guard Nicole Hung said. “It was definitely a good opportunity for us to show that this one loss won’t take us out of what we do, and to show that we’re a good team.”

The teams exchanged a few points early on before Hung sank a layup, starting a six-point run for the Tigers seven minutes into the game. With a six-point lead wedged in, the Tigers sought to consolidate their edge, getting contributions from several sources as they have done all season.

Princeton monopolized possession for much of the half, spending its efforts shooting across the court, including two three-point shots made by freshman point guard Blake Dietrick. The Tigers finished the first half with a 12-point lead and went into the second half with an even greater emphasis on defense.

“At the beginning of the second half, we took them out of what they were doing, especially with our full-court press,” Hung said.

A three-point shot 50 seconds into the half by junior forward Niveen Rasheed started off a streak of 10 consecutive points by the Princeton offense.

Four minutes into the second half, however, the tide seemed to turn away from the Tigers’ favor, as UMBC started to chip away at the 20-point Princeton lead. A series of fouls brought the Retrievers back within 11 points.

But that was the closest the Tigers would allow UMBC, as Princeton resumed controlling the pace of the game to finish with another solid win in the fashion that has become expected of the squad this season.

Only eight games into the season, 10 different members of the squad have scored double-digits in a game.

“Offensively, everyone can score,” Hung said. “Everyone is a threat and on any given night can score double digits, so it shows how deep we are.” Hung added that the Tigers are not a “one-dimensional team.”

The game marked the first career start for Hung, who finished with nine points and an assist. Rasheed and junior center Meg Bowen also scored nine, tying Hung for the team lead.

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The game also saw more contributions from Dietrick, who is already starting to make consistent contributions to the Tiger squad, which needed young players in the backcourt to step up.

Princeton’s defense returned to its usual caliber, holding the Retrievers to only 41 points in 40 minutes.

“It was definitely good to get back to how we usually are, especially after Delaware, which definitely was an anomaly,” Hung said.

The Tigers allowed UMBC to make only 26 percent of their field goals and racked up seven steals.

Until the loss against Delaware last week, the Tigers had been receiving more votes with each output of the NCAA rankings and pushing closer to being ranked in the Top 25. But the Tigers will only have six more opportunities to prove themselves on the national stage before starting Ivy League play at the beginning of next year.

How the matches play out against No. 22 DePaul and No. 5 Stanford, the last two ranked teams on Princeton’s schedule, could change much of the momentum of the team’s season.

The Tigers will head back down to Maryland for their next game, taking on Navy on Friday.