Aleksandravicius Hits For 21, Davidson Drops 67-61 Decision to Princeton

Wednesday, December 29

Davidson, N.C

7:00 p.m.

Davidson College

4-5

Princeton

9-3

Princeton

Davidson

Sophomore Barbara Sitton

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

Aleksandravicius Hits For 21, Davidson Drops 67-61 Decision to Princeton

12/29/2010 10:32:04 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Gavin McFarlin -- Assistant SID

DAVIDSON, N.C. — Sophia Aleksandravicius (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) reached the 20-point mark for the sixth time in her career, but it was not enough to carry the Wildcats to a win in their first-ever matchup against the Princeton Tigers, who had four score in double figures and took a 67-61 victory on Wednesday evening at John M. Belk Arena in women's basketball action.

Aleksandravicius had a game-high 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting, while filling the stat-sheet with seven boards, a career-high tying five steals and five blocks. She moved into fourth-place all-time in the Wildcat record books with 87 blocks.

Addie Micir paced four Tigers in double figures with 16 points, including three of them coming on a clutch three-pointer in the final 1:34 to help seal the win for Princeton.

Devona Allgood, who is from Huntersville, N.C., followed with 15 points, eight boards and two blocks, while Niveen Rasheed (13), who left midway through the second half after injurying her knee, and Lauren Edwards (11) also hit the double-digit mark.

Senior Ashley Lax (Little Rock, Ark.) joined Aleksandravicius in double digits with a season-best 17 points for the Wildcats, getting 15 of those on a season-high five three-balls. Davidson had a season-high eight on the night.

The 'Cats also dished out 16 assists as Barbara Sitton (Richmond, Va.) led the way with a career-high 11 dimes.

Sitton led the Wildcats back from an eight-point deficit in the early goings of the first half, helping spark an 11-2 run with a steal, a pair of assists on two fastbreaks and two points as Davidson turned a 16-8 deficit into a 19-18 lead with 3:59 to go. The run was capped off by a Aleksandravicius three-point play.

After Princeton went into halftime up 25-23, a jumper by Aleksandravicius in the paint two minutes into the start of the second half brought the 'Cats to within one at 29-28. The 6-foot-4 forward scored 11 of her 21 points in the second half.

Princeton though would then open up the game with a 13-4 run over the next six minutes to grab a 42-32 lead and force the Wildcats to burn a 30-second timeout. Then coming out of the break, the Tigers added to the run, getting two short jumpers from Allgood and Edwards to push the streak to 17-4, before Shneeka Center (Smithtown, N.Y.) halted the run with a turn-around jumper in the lane and the score was 46-34 halfway through the period.

Center had a solid game off the bench, dropping in eight points to go along with four boards, all season highs, in 17 minutes.

Davidson made one last charge. Down 53-43 after Micir hit a couple of free throws with 6:23 left, the Wildcats rattled off a 10-4 run, getting three-pointers from Center and Lax, to cut the deficit to four, 57-53, with 3:48 on the clock.

But after a Princeton timeout, Edwards scored on another jumper from the left corner and Micir pushed the lead out to nine, 62-53 with her final three-pointer and Davidson had to call a timeout with 1:34 remaining.

Davidson got no closer than six points (62-56) the rest of the way.

The 'Cats, who are on a three-game homestand, plays a 2 p.m. contest against UNCG on Friday.

GAME NOTES: Davidson saw its four-game home win streak dating back to the end of last season come to an end ... Sitton has now dished out 23 assists in her last three games ... Jasmine Calin matched Center with eight points off the bench ... Lax's double-figure game was the 43rd of her career ... Davidson fell to 4-4 in non-conference games this year.