PRINCETON, N.J. – The Big Red women's basketball team was able to hang with No. 18/20 Princeton for long stretches, but the undefeated and Ivy League leading Tigers proved to be too much as it earned a 75-47 victory this evening at Jadwin Gym. Princeton's 75 points are the fewest scored by the Tigers this season in Ivy League play.
With the win, Princeton improves to 21-0 overall and 5-0 in the Ivy League, while the Big Red slips to 13-7 overall and 4-2 in the conference.
Cornell had a trio of players score in double figures, led by
Nia Marshall with 14 points, while
Nicholle Aston and
Kerri Moran finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Unfortunately, the rest of the Big Red roster accounted for just 10 points. Aston also finished with a team high seven rebounds, while
Christine Kline grabbed six boards and had a team-high four steals.
The Tigers were led by Michelle Miller's 14-pont, 11-reobund double-double, while Alex Wheatley added 14 points and eight boards as Princeton held the significant 42-29 edge on the boards.
Cornell was plagued by a poor shooting first half (24.2 percent) and despite hitting 46.7 percent of its shots in the second half managed to finish at just 34.9 percent for the game. The Tigers connected on 56.9 percent overall, thanks to hitting an impressive 60 percent from the field in the second half as they put the game out of reach.
Princeton turned the ball over 17 times, thanks to 10 Cornell steals, while the Big Red had 13 miscues.
Cornell used outstanding defense to get its chances early on, but went 0-10 from the field to start the game as the Tigers built an 8-0 lead. Marshall finally got Cornell on the board as she cashed in with a hard fought layup with just under 14 minutes to go in the half.
The Big Red made it a five points game (12-7) on a deep jumper from Marshall, and a five-point game once again (14-9) on a jumper in the lane from Moran at the 11:13 mark, but the home team used a 13-2 run to double-up the Big Red, 27-11.
Aston halted the run with a jumper (27-13) with 7:33 to go and the teams traded buckets to 32-17 before Amanda Berntsen hit a trey with under two minutes to go to account for the 35-17 halftime score.
The teams continued to trade baskets early in the second half, with Cornell hitting its five of its first seven shots of the stanza to keep pace with the Tigers (46-28).
Unfortunately, the Big Red couldn't manage to cut into the lead and the Tigers used a 12-1 run to pull away for good.
Princeton eventually took its largest lead (32 points) when Miller made it a 71-30 game with 4:23to play.
The Big Red will open up a four-game home stand when it welcomes Dartmouth and Harvard to Newman Arena on Friday, Feb. 13 and Saturday, Feb. 14, respectively. The game against the Big Green will tip-off at 7 p.m., while the game vs. the Crimsons is slated to begin at 6 p.m.
