(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption: CENTER OF ATTENTION: Princeton senior center Becky Brown draws tight coverage in the lane last week in the Tigers' 68-57 victory over Lehigh. Brown went 9-for-9 from the field in the win over the Mountain Hawks as she scored a team-high 19 points. Brown, who is averaging 12.5 points a game, now has 1,211 points in her career, good for seventh on the program's all-time list. Princeton, now 2-2, plays at Monmouth on December 1 before hosting Colgate on December 3.

Brown Making Impact on Princeton Record Book In Helping Tiger Women's Hoops to a 2-2 Start

By Bill Alden

Becky Brown didn't have lofty expectations when she started her career with the Princeton University women's basketball team in 2002.

"I didn't really want to play basketball in college; early in my senior year in high school I wasn't recruiting myself," said Brown. "I visited Princeton and I saw a game and I thought I could be competitive here."

Brown proved to be competitive from the opening tipoff of her freshman year as she was a starter from day one and led Princeton in scoring with 14.9 points a game.

Building on that fine start, the 6'3 native of Nashville, Tenn., has wildly exceeded her expectations as she came into this season's 10th on the Tigers all-time points list with 1,161.

After scoring 19 points on 9-of-9 shooting from the field in Princeton's 68-57 win over Lehigh last week, Brown moved into seventh place on the scoring list, passing Maggie Langlas.

This past weekend, Brown scored a total of 16 points as the Tigers moved to 2-2 by splitting two games in the St. Mary's Tournament in Moraga, Calif., falling to St. Mary's 75-70 on Friday before coming back to edge Central Florida 91-87 a day later.

The unassuming Brown has gradually embraced her role as the Tigers' go-to player in the post. "It's something I have dealt with over the years," said Brown, who is averaging 12.5 points a game so far this season and now has 1,211 in her Tiger career. "You're lucky to be in that kind of position."

In fact, Brown didn't even know where she stood on the Princeton career list until clued in by her parents. "My parents told me that after the first game," said Brown with a chuckle. "It's great; it's a really neat opportunity to have."

In order to reach that status, Brown has worked hard to improve her game. "I've definitely improved my strength," asserted Brown, who hauled down 11 rebounds in the win over Lehigh. "It's really important to be strong in the post. I'm actually kind of a short center so I've been working on that, being strong with the ball, getting rebounds and being patient."

While Brown is proud of her offensive contribution, she knows that the Tigers and she need to focus on other aspects of the game if they are to be a factor in Ivy League play.

"You've got to have rebounding and you've got to have defense," said Brown. "We've got to keep working on that. I think its going to be a great positive for us."

Princeton head coach Richard Barron thought his team learned something about focus as it built a 39-24 halftime lead against Lehigh only to see the Mountain Hawks pull within four with 4:58 remaining.

"They started to celebrate a little bit," said Barron. "It's a great lesson for them because you can't let your guard down. You have to play with the same intensity no matter what. I was fairly pleased with our defense. Our rebounding was OK but I think that's where we let our guard down in the second half."

Barron did see some progress on offense in the win over Lehigh as his club hit on 51.8 percent from the field (29-for-56) and piled up 22 assists.

"We had a good start, we knocked down some shots and hit some three-pointers," said Barron. "Our ball movement was good, especially late in the first half."

Barron saw the trip to California for the St. Mary's tournament as a way to harden his team for the Ivy battles ahead.

"These teams are going to be more physical, much bigger than the teams we play in the Ivy League," said Barron, who got 30 points from freshman point guard Jessica Berry in the loss to St. Mary's and 25 points from sophomore forward Meg Cowher in the win over Central Florida. "I think our forwards and post match up well with just about anybody."

Brown, for her part, is focused on giving her foes trouble every minute she's on the court. "I'm just trying to concentrate on play-to-play, game-to-game, and being consistent," maintained Brown, who will look to come up big as Princeton plays at Monmouth on December 1 before hosting Colgate on December 3. "I feel like that stuff just kind of comes, I really have to make sure that I'm focusing on each possession."

That focus has helped Brown become one of the top scorers ever to play for Princeton.

Return to Previous Sports Story | Return to Top | Go to Next Sports Story