Princeton University women's basketball head coach Courtney Banghart still has a tough time accepting her team's loss to Georgetown in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.By Paul Franklin
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Courtney Banghart scanned the updated women’s basketball brackets yesterday morning and found some comfort in the fact that some very good teams were knocked out in the opening round.
As far as comfort goes, that was about it.
The Princeton University coach was still in a bit of shock that her Tigers were already among the missing in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
They lost Sunday afternoon to Georgetown, 65-49, a game that, in truth, was never really close.
Princeton committed 11 turnovers in the first half, nine in the first 12 minutes, when it fell behind 22-5 before going off at the half down by 20.
They didn’t handle the ball well, they didn’t shoot the ball well, and they sure as heck didn’t feel very well how their season ended.
This was a simple tale. Princeton could not handle Georgetown’s press, could not handle the quickness. As a result, everything else pretty much came undone.
“It took us 21 seconds to go 60 feet,” Banghart said from her office back on campus. “Turnovers forced us to be hesitant. We started to not attack their pressure, and that played into Georgetown’s hands. The worst thing to do against pressure is to be hesitant.
“When shots aren’t falling, it’s just natural that you become a little more hesitant, trying to be choosier with the looks you’re getting. And, again, that played into Georgetown’s hands.”
Princeton finished with 18 turnovers and shot an uncharacteristic 37 percent — 28 percent in that opening half.
The starting five combined to shoot 10-for-30, with standouts Devona Allgood and Addie Micir 7-for-20.
Banghart wasn’t so much angry or disappointed. She just couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“Last year I felt the first four minutes were key. You have to show the other team that you can do this and you have to play with confidence. I felt this team was battle-tested. But I was in such disbelief,” she said. “I was actually shocked that it took me a little bit of time to be like, ‘Really? Their pressure is still bothering us?’
“The issue,“ she added, “was that we could not let one turnover turn into four, and we did that a few times.”
It wasn’t as if Georgetown was not taking advantage of those times.
Its star, Sugar Rodgers, did what she usually does by scoring 26 points from all over and grabbing eight rebounds. Meanwhile, her teammates were scoring 24 points off turnovers.
As Banghart pointed out, when someone like Rodgers isn’t hitting her shots, she isn’t afraid to keep putting them up. Princeton players, however, with no one on their roster that talented, would tend to pass the ball after missing a few shots on their own.
“Teams like Georgetown keep going with their best option. On our team,” Banghart said, “there really is no best option.”
Such is the curse of an unselfish team, on which players all season have been passing up meals so that a teammate can at least have some crumbs.
Sunday this team left very hungry. But next season is still very far away.
What cannot be overlooked is that this team did win the Ivy League, it won 24 games and lost just five.
And it did have its share of injuries: Kate Miller was out three weeks; Meg Bowen was out a couple of weeks and played Sunday with a “partially“ dislocated shoulder; and last year’s Ivy Rookie of Year, Niveen Rasheed, went down with a knee in December and never returned.
So really, shock and disappointment aside, this season was far from a lost cause and void of goals achieved.
“First and foremost, this was a group that was, ‘all in,’ all the time,” Banghart offered.
“No team is healthy all year, but no matter what, you have to sign up for it. So we had our adversity, and I think what it showed was that this was a team effort. There wasn’t any one person who was kind of our anchor.
"So I'm really proud of that because there was every reason to fold and they never did."
Not even late in Sunday's game. Still, the painful lessons remain fresh.
“I think our kids this year needed to see that playing in the NCAA Tournament takes an entire different level of physical toughness, and it’s a one-and-done mentality. We’re so young (only two seniors), but I told them you can’t take this tournament for granted. We have to continue to get stronger and more mentally tough, that’s for sure.
“You only get one chance, and that means you get 40 minutes, and you have to play most of those 40 pretty well. It’s all or nothing,” she said, “and we came away with nothing.”