Princeton races past Rider to win opener
LAWRENCEVILLE >> The Princeton women’s basketball quickly answered any questions about what it may look like while star junior Bella Alarie is on the mend.
Gabrielle Rush scored 25 points, Carli Littlefield added 16 and the Tigers jumped on Rider early en route to an 89-65 victory at Alumni Gymnasium on Tuesday night.
“Our identity right now is without Bella,” Princeton coach Courtney Banghart said. “This is the team we’ve known even if wasn’t the team we expected coming in from the summer. The way our seniors have led with consistency and competitiveness, I’m not surprised.”
Princeton (1-0) shot 70 percent in the first quarter and 60 percent in the first half as it built a 25-point halftime lead. Rush had 23 points on 8-for-9 from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 from beyond the arc by the midway point of the second quarter.
“My teammates were able to find me in the right spots,” Rush said. “We were running the ball and making that one more extra pass and finding me where I was open. That allowed me to get in a rhythm early.”
It helps that she’s got the green light.
“I’ve been through some rough shooting patches that (Banghart) has allowed me to shoot through,” Rush said. “That helps a lot knowing that if I miss a few coach is going to be like, ‘You need to keep shooting and take that next one.’”
Taylor Baur added 10 points and all 10 players who appeared for the Tigers scored. Neenah Young and Julia Cunningham had eight each with Young banking in a running 3-pointer from near half court at the secondquarter buzzer.
Princeton finished at 55.4 percent (36-for-65) from the field, including 9-for-19 from 3.
Stella Johnson had 21 points, six assists and five rebounds for the Broncs (0-1).
Johnson said there wasn’t any false sense of security with Princeton’s best player sitting on the bench with a cast on her arm.
“We knew they had backup players who could fill that spot,” Johnson said. “We were ready for that, but I just don’t think we were prepared for the pace that they played at.”
Princeton looked to push the ball even after made baskets and finished with 13 fast break points.
“They threw that first punch and really got after us on the offensive end,” Rider coach Lynn Milligan said. “We were a little shell-shocked early on and it took us some time to get our feet under us. I thought we responded in the second half, but the damage was already done”