Tiger women’s basketball sweeps Yale, Brown behind freshman
By: Justin Feil
Ariel Rogers is playing the best basketball of her young career at the perfect time for the Princeton University women’s team.
For the fourth time in two weeks, Rogers set a new career-high in points, and this time it helped the Tigers to a weekend sweep.
The freshman forward set a career high with 11 points in a loss to Harvard Feb. 5, then one week later scored 12 points in a narrow loss to Columbia. She had another new career high, 13 points in 14 second-half minutes, in a 75-49 win over Yale on Friday. Then, in place of the injured Becky Brown, she made her first career start a memorable one with 14 points in a 53-50 win over the Brown Bears, who were in second place going into the Ivy League weekend.
"I’m just playing hard and making baskets when we need it," said Rogers, who was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the first time this season. "I’m making smart decisions. If I’m open and it’s a good time in the shot clock, I can shoot. Coach it giving me a good idea when to score. It works out pretty well.
"I think it’s more I’m learning the difference in college play now," she added. "With the offense, with decision-making scenarios, I think I’m learning to be smarter with the ball and not having as many turnovers. I think I can put in positive minutes instead of being tentative about what I should or shouldn’t do. That takes time to develop."
Rogers credits the Princeton coaching staff for having patience with her as she adjusted to the college game after bringing a strong background to the Tigers. She had been a big-time scorer at Evanston Township High in Illinois, and was a member of the Illinois Hustle AAU team that was the national champion runner-up in 2003.
"Back in high school, I was our leading scorer and rebounder, but I played on the No. 1 team in the nation with AAU," Rogers said. "It gave me a different role, and an idea of what it would be like in college. All the girls were bigger, stronger and faster. With that AAU team, I was no longer the leading scorer. It gave me a better idea of what I had to work toward to be a major contributor at the college level."
Her recent minutes have exceeded her greatest expectations for what her first year at Old Nassau would be like. But she’s had plenty to do with increasing her role with the Tigers, who improved to 12-10 overall, 4-5 in the Ivies.
"Clearly the chance to get more playing time has helped her," said PU head coach Richard Barron, whose team plays at Penn 7 p.m. tonight before hosting Columbia on Friday and Cornell on Saturday in the final games at Jadwin Gym this season. "She plays out of position behind Becky. She’s not a back-to-the-basket player really, but she’s played well for us lately. Against Columbia, Becky got in foul trouble and she played well. Against Harvard, Becky wasn’t doing that well against the zone and Ariel went in and played well.
"She’s definitely more comfortable. She’s less of a deer in headlights, but there’s still some of that. Sometimes she plays too fast. She just needs to slow down."
But not too much. Roger is rolling just at the right time. With Brown out for the Bears game with an ankle injury suffered Friday night, she filled in with 32 minutes and added six rebounds to her 14 points before fouling out.
"It was a good win over a good team," Barron said. "It felt like retaliation for a game we felt let slip away (a one-point loss at Brown). It’s going to be the same way with Penn, and we feel the same way with Columbia. A little bit of it feels like it’s more us proving what we’re capable of doing. This is where the kids feel like they should have been."
The Tigers’ weekend sweep in which they played some of their best basketball yet is proof of how strong the team could be. Consider that they played Saturday without Brown, their leading scorer, and Meagan Cowher, their second-leading scorer who is out indefinitely with a stress fracture.
"I thought Becky might be able to play," Rogers said. "I just thought I might come in in relief more often. I kind of went with the punches when (Barron) said I was going to start. I didn’t want to show any fear. Teams can sense that, and your own team can sense it. I didn’t want to put any fear in that we could not beat Brown. When you lose your top two scorers going into the game, we all made sure we had that positive attitude."
"Last year," Barron said, "with Casey Lockwood’s injury, we collapsed. We didn’t show any resolve. You could argue we did that a little this year, but we haven’t waited eight games to do it this year. Not only did we have Becky out, we had Meagan out. And some people stepped up."
That solid play has to continue for the Tigers to meet some of their goals. An Ivy title is out of the picture with unbeaten Dartmouth going strong and Harvard having just two losses, but Princeton still has plenty to prove.
"We weren’t happy with the first half of the Ivy League," Rogers said. "We felt we were a better team. We felt we had to show we could do it, not just say we could. We wanted to go out and accomplish it and finish the season strong instead of saying we’ll get it next year.
"There’s almost a challenge to see if we can play well, to show we can beat good programs. Last time we played Brown, we didn’t come out as successful. To have started this second half with this goal of beating these teams and doing it, it’s ne more step toward reaching our goals. And it provides momentum for the games to come."
Not to mention, momentum for Rogers as she continues to play more and more like a seasoned veteran. She’s doing all she can to help bring the Tigers closer to where they wanted to be.
"One person can’t win one game," Rogers said. "It’s everyone getting better. That development is exciting to see, everyone coming together. Even on the sidelines, the bench is just as supportive. Oftentimes, we have to be told by the refs to sit down. It’s really a great atmosphere. I feel like we’re really building on this program. This season is ending strong. I’m excited about it."