PRINCETON, N.J. ? The Monmouth University women's basketball team dropped a 52-41 game at Princeton in nonconference action at Jadwin Gym on Friday evening. The Hawks dropped their fourth straight game to fall to 4-5 on the season while the Tigers even up their record at 4-4.
The Hawks fell behind 9-0 before Jennifer Bender (Staten Island, N.Y./Staten Island Tech) got MU on the board with an offensive rebound and put back at the 10:37 mark of the first half. Monmouth missed its first 17 shots of the game before Bender's bucket. Monmouth then picked up its defensive intensity and cut the Tigers lead to 11-7 at the 8:18 mark after freshman Alexis Scott (Somerset, N.J./Franklin) converted a traditional three-point play.
Princeton then went on a 9-2 scoring run, punctuated by consecutive hoops from Lauren Edwards, to take a 20-9 lead with 3:37 left in the first half. LaKia Barber (Clinton, Md./Gwynn Park) converted a three-point play of her own, scoring her hoop on an assist from Marisa Jimenez (Carteret, N.J./Carteret), to trim the lead to 24-14 at the 1:53 mark of the first half.
The Tigers took a 26-18 lead into intermission as they shot 50% from the floor in the first half. MU shot 18.9% in the first half (7-of-37 shooting), but did pull down 14 offensive rebounds, compared to four for Princeton. Barber led the way for Monmouth with seven points as Bender added six points and six boards. Scott contributed five points and five rebounds in the first half.
Princeton's Whitney Downs scored the first four points of the second half to give the Tigers a 30-18 lead with 15:49 left in the game. The hosts pushed their lead to 38-20 at the 12:30 mark after six quick points from Julia Berger. The Tigers took a 47-25 lead with 7:46 left in the contest after six consecutive points from Devona Allgood.
The Hawks clawed their way back into the contest via the foul line, converting 13 straight points, including four from Scott, from the charity stripe to cut the Princeton lead to 48-35 with 3:57 left in the game. A Barber spin move and basket cut the lead to 48-39 with 1:43 left in the contest.
Barber led the way for MU with 15 points while Scott added a career-high 11 points and nine rebounds. Bender just missed out on her second straight double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
The Hawks shot 19.0% (12-for-63) in the game while Princeton shot 45.5%. MU outrebounded Princeton 49-33, including a 33-10 advantage on the offensive glass which led to 20 second chance points. MU got back in the game in the second half by going 13-of-22 from the foul line. Scott led the way going a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe.
Monmouth returns to action on Thursday, December 18 when they visit Virginia for a 7:00 p.m. tip.
