Jan. 3, 2007
Box Score
EASTON, Pa. - A typical Princeton offense and the Tigers' ability to crash the boards all night long spelled a tough 79-62 defeat for the Lafayette women's basketball team on Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center. Despite three players scoring in double figures, led by sophomores Jessica Spicer and Emily Garner, the Leopards had no answer for Princeton's Meagan Cowher inside as the Tigers won their sixth straight over the Leopards.
Lafayette (2-12) forced a season-high 26 Princeton (6-8) turnovers, converting them into 25 points, but the Leopards struggled to find the rim and missed key lay-ups to seal their fate.
The Tigers opened up a 10-2 lead in the opening 4:23, but a three from Spicer and a Vanessa Van De Venter layin pulled Lafayette quickly back within three just a minute later. However, a Cowher layup capped an 18-5 Princeton run over the next six-plus minutes to put the Tigers up 28-12 at the 9:13 mark.
Princeton kept Lafayette at bay for the better part of the first half, but back-to-back baseline triples from senior guard Kara Stetler and junior guard Val Gomez whittled the deficit to 37-28 with just under a minute to play in the half. Princeton then recaptured the momentum, however, as Cowher drilled a three from the top of the key as time ran out, handing her team a 12-point lead at the break.
The Leopards would get no closer than nine, 56-47, on a Maureen Johnson putback with 10:23 remaining in the game.
Lafayette took 14 more shots than Princeton, but it was the Tigers finishing the night with a 49 percent (24-of-49) shooting performance. The Leopards shot 33 percent (21-of-63) from the field. Both teams nailed nine three-pointers.
Spicer and Garner led the Leopards with 14 points. Garner pulled down a team-high six boards, while Spicer buried four long range buckets. Gomez had the hot hand for the Leopards, particularly in the second half, as she finished with 10 points to go with three assists and three steals. Stetler and Van De Venter came up with nine and eight points, respectively.
Cowher led all scorers with a career-high 27 points and eight boards, while Ali Prichard and Casey Lockwood added 17 and 12 points, respectively.
Lafayette opens Patriot League play when the team hosts Holy Cross on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Leopards upset the Crusaders a year ago in Easton, Pa. and will be looking for a repeat outcome to jumpstart the meat of the team's schedule.
Game Notes:
-Junior Vanessa Van De Venter scored her 700th career point on a weak side layin with 17:28 remaining in the game.
-Head coach Tammy Smith employed her seventh different starting lineup of the season, as Val Gomez started her fifth game of the season.
-Sophomore Jessica Spicer has now led the Leopards in scoring in five of the last seven games and has averaged 13.1 points a game in that span, which dates back to her career-high, 18-point performance against Penn (12/7).
