Third Quarter Surge Not Enough As Women's Basketball Falls To Princeton, 76-56

Friday, November 12

Newark, Del.

7 P.M.

University of Delaware

1-1,0-0CAA

Princeton

2-0,0-0Ivy League

Princeton

Delaware

Third Quarter Surge Not Enough As Women's Basketball Falls To Princeton, 76-56

11/12/2021 9:26:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

NEWARK, Del. – The University of Delaware women's basketball put together a strong third-quarter showing but it wasn't enough to overcome the deficit, dropping a 76-56 decision to Princeton (2-0) Friday evening inside the Bob Carpenter Center. The Blue Hens (1-1) home winning streak has been snapped at 14 as the Tigers extend their winning streak to 24 games.

"What I was most proud of was our fight," said head coach Natasha Adair. "You saw it in the second and third quarter but we dug a big hole for ourselves. We scheduled these games because we are preparing to be that team in March. I watched my team fight against a really good Princeton team. This team is no slouch, it's a team two years ago that went 26-1 so my hat goes out to them. There are things that we did very well but there are things that we have to go back and work on. We have another game on Monday against another good team [Maine] and you are going to hear that every game we play this non-conference schedule. The beauty of this is how we grow and how we adjust."

Grace Stone found a running Julia Cunningham 14 seconds into the game to ignite a Princeton 14-0 run. Tee Johnson sank a free throw to put Delaware in the scoring column with 5:16 remaining in the quarter. The Tigers took a 19-point lead after Abby Meyers' three-pointer, 24-5, before the Blue Hens used a 12-4 run to close out the opening quarter trailing by 12 (28-17).

Jasmine Dickey's layup pulled Delaware within 11 points with 5:12 left in the second quarter. Princeton remained in the driver's seat, finishing out the period outscoring the Blue Hens 18-9. Cunningham knocked down the Tigers' seventh triple of the half to extend the lead to 20 points heading into the break, 46-26.

The Blue & Gold went into the half and regrouped with the mission to put on a rally in front of the 997 Blue Hen fans. A sequence that started with a Dickey block, leading to a Ty Battle board and eventual layup at the 6:21 mark helped the Blue Hens erupt with a much-needed 18-2 spurt over the next 5:30 to make it a single-digit game, 53-46. The Tigers closed out the scoring with four-straight points pushing its lead back up to double-digits, 57-46.

Princeton never let up in the final period as the Tigers saw their lead balloon to a game-high 24 points after Ellie Mitchell's layup with 2:06 remaining. With 11 seconds left, Jewel Smalls laid in two points for the Blue Hens to settle the 76-56 final.

Battle paced Delaware with 15 points (5-for-8 FG, 5-for-7 FT) and 10 rebounds to register her first double-double of the season. Tyi Skinner followed with 14 points while Lizzie Oleary (6-for-9 FG, seven rebounds) and Dickey (seven rebounds, game-high five steals) poured in 12 and 10 points respectively.

Cunningham finished with game-high 26 points (10-for-19 FG, 4-for-6 3FG) to go with five rebounds and four assists to lead Princeton to victory. Meyers added 16 points (5-for-10 FG, 3-for-6 3FG, 3-for-4 FT). Grace Stone chipped in 15 points (6-for-8 FG) while Kaitlyn Chen scored 12 points (4-for-7 FG, 2-for-2 FT) off the bench.

In the end, Delaware finished the evening shooting 33.8 percent (22-of-65) from the field, 6.7 percent (1-of-15) from beyond the arc and 61.1 percent (11-of-18) from the free throw line. Princeton connected on 50.9 percent (27-of-53) from the field, 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from three-point territory and 77.8 percent (14-of-18) from the charity stripe. Delaware held a plus-8 rebound margin (41-33) while scoring 13 second-chance points off of 21 offensive rebounds. Delaware outplayed Princeton in blocks (3-1), points in the paint (30-28) and fast break points (13-8). Princeton held the edge in assists (14-5), steals (7-6) and bench points (14-4) while scoring 22 points off of 19 Blue Hen turnovers.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Blue Hens will open the road portion of the schedule on Monday, Nov. 15, in a non-conference showdown against Maine starting at 7 p.m. inside Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, Maine

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