Courtesy: Beverly Schaefer
In its final road contest of the regular season, the Princeton women's basketball team outlasted a scrappy Brown team to earn a 77-60 victory Saturday night in Providence, R.I. The Tigers have now won 16 consecutive games and remain perfect in Ivy League play, improving their record to 23-4 overall, 13-0 Ivy League.
The game proved to be fairly even statistically from the field and on the glass. Princeton shot 51.7 percent (30-for-58) from the field, while holding Brown to 47.8 percent (22-for-46). The Tigers edged the Bears in the rebounding battle, 30-28, tallying a 9-6 advantage on the offensive end. Dividends were paid on the free throw line, as Princeton was 14-for-19 (73.7 percent). In addition, the Tigers capitalized on 22 Bear turnovers, converting them into 28 points. Princeton also saw major contributions from its bench, holding a 45-17 advantage.
At 12:29, Devona Allgood made a layin to give the Tigers their first double figure lead of the evening, 20-10. Brown worked to chip away at Princeton's advantage, getting as close as six in the first half, but it was not enough to swing the game momentum. The Tigers then cruised to a 46-27 lead at halftime, led by 14 Niveen Rasheed points. Rasheed would finish with 18 points and four rebounds.
In the second half, Brown continued to work to close in on Princeton's double figure advantage, coming within 11, 59-48, at 10:34. Despite the Bears' effort, the Tigers rallied back to swell their lead to 17, 77-60, to close out the game.
Off the bench, Allgood led the both sides with a season-best 21 points in 25 minutes of work. She went 10-for-14 from the field, while grabbing a team-high eight boards.
"Devona has been suffering an injury all week and we brought her back slowly yesterday. Today was fabulous - 10-for-14 from the field, eight rebounds. She was very efficient in 25 minutes of work. She was a key tonight," said head coach Courtney Banghart.
Lauren Edwards also added double figure scoring numbers, tallying 10 points and a career-high six steals. It marked the senior's seventh consecutive game finishing with double digit numbers.
"We hope to learn a lesson from every game and I think our communication is one of the areas that we will learn we play much better when we communicate. It is a long grind; it's a long season. You're not always going to play your best, but we will learn from it and we will get better," concluded Banghart.
Princeton heads home to wrap up the regular season versus Penn on Saturday, Mar. 6 at 5 p.m.
