Box Score
Guided by five double figure scorers and a 25-2 scoring run
to open the second half, the Princeton women's basketball team handed Columbia
an 87-41 loss Saturday evening in New York City. The Tigers extended their tear
through the Ivy League, improving to 12-5, 3-0 Ivy on the year and their
conference win streak to 27.
Columbia managed to keep the game within a possession until
a Niveen Rasheed jumper at 14:41 opened up an 8-1 run to put Princeton up 19-10.
Rasheed recorded her sixth double-double of the year,
scoring 15 points and grabbing a season-high 16 rebounds. The guard also dished
a team-high five assists in only 24 minutes of action.
At 9:31 Blake Dietrick lifted the Tigers to their first
double figure lead, 22-12, of the evening off a three-point play, but it was
not enough to swing the momentum for good.
The Lions answered back with four straight and carried that
into a 9-3 run to cut Princeton's lead to 25-21 with less than five to play.
Their come-from-behind run was halted by consecutive Dietrick treys, as the Tigers
went back up by 10, 31-21 at 3:39.
Dietrick finished with 12 points, connecting on all three of
her triples down the stretch to guide Princeton to a 38-23 lead at halftime.
Kristen Helmstetter buried a three to open the second half
and it was all Tigers from there. Columbia was unable to respond to Princeton's
mounting pressure, as the Tigers' lead swelled to 63-25 over the first 4:31 of
the half.
Helmstetter notched double figure scoring numbers, going a
perfect 4-for-4 from the stripe en route to 11 points.
Rounding out Princeton's top scorers were seniors Megan
Bowen and Kate Miller, who had 12 and 11 points, respectively.
The Tigers remain on the road next weekend, traveling to Brown on
Friday, Feb. 8 and Yale the following evening.
