Written by Niner Times intern Stephanie Smith
The Charlotte 49ers and Princeton Tigers battled from the opening tip especially in the first eight minutes as neither team was able to pull more than five points away from each other. However, it was Princeton who went on an 11-0 run to pull away from the 49ers with nine minutes left in the first half.
Charlotte was plagued by foul trouble and offensive inconsistency as they shot 29 percent from the field. One of the bright spots in the first half was the play of Tanisha Brown.
Brown was inserted into the game because of foul trouble and on her first play she forced a turnover. She then sprinted down the court to make a layup which resulted in her first points of the 2015 season.
Princeton dominated the first half by shooting 64 percent from the field and scoring 22 points in the paint. Princeton’s leading scorers were Amanda Bernsteen and Annie Tarakchian each with 12 points.
The 49ers were forced to play catch up as Princeton stretched their lead to 20 points, making the score 41-21 going into the half.
In the second half Princeton continued their offensive showcase. Charlotte was not able to cut the lead to less than 20 points as Princeton ran away with the game.
The largest lead of the night came around the seven-minute mark when the Tigers went ahead by 35 points.
As a team Charlotte has allowed opponents to shoot 40 percent from the three point line and 45 percent from the field. As was the case in this game, Princeton executed their offense and shot an astounding 51 percent from the floor.
Even though the 49ers were losing by more than 30 points with 7:30 left in the game, Brown continued to play aggressive by grabbing rebounds, forcing turnovers and making multiple layups.
“I just wanted to play hard and do the little things for the team.” said Brown on her season-high eight points and seven rebounds.
When the final buzzer sounded the score was 73–43 in favor of Princeton. Charlotte falls to 1-5 on the season while Princeton continues their undefeated hot streak with their seventh straight win.
Charlotte looks to end their five game losing skid on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at South Carolina. The game will tip-off at 8 p.m. on the SEC Network.