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Lockwood's Hustle, Tenacity on the Glass Leads Tiger Women's Hoops to Big Weekend
By Bill Alden
Her sore right thumb was wrapped in tape but Casey Lockwood couldn't stop grinning last Saturday after the Princeton University women's basketball team topped Yale. Fighting through the pain of her strained thumb, Lockwood gave her teammates plenty of reason to smile as she contributed 15 points and 10 rebounds to help the Tigers top the Bulldogs 66-58 at Jadwin Gym.
Lockwood, who had scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in Princeton's 66-53 win over Brown a night earlier, acknowledged that the Tigers needed to get on the right track after losing 11 of its first 14 games.
Princeton's win over Yale improved the Tigers to 2-1 in Ivy League play and 5-11 overall.
"We had a really solid week in practice, we were ready to turn things around," said Lockwood, who now has six double-doubles in her debut season with Princeton.
"We definitely came out to play and it was really exciting because our energy level was higher than where it had been before.²
The 6'0 forward from the San Francisco area acknowledged that the young Tigers had done some serious soul-searching after absorbing an 87-57 whipping at Colgate on January 27.
"I think we did a lot of thinking after that game," said Lockwood, referring to the Colgate loss.
"We've had a few wake-up calls but that was probably the worst of all. With the Ivy season coming up, we knew we had a shot to be a lot better than last year and we just needed to prove it."
Lockwood has been determined to prove that she is one of the most tenacious inside players in the league.
"I try to be as much of a rebounder as I can," said Lockwood, who is averaging a team-high 8.6 rebounds a game and is second in the Tigers in scoring at 11.4 points per game.
"If the points come, they come. But rebounding is something that we as a team need to really focus on. We're not really that big. Our team is young so everybody has to step up."
Princeton head coach Richard Barron is pleased with how Lockwood has stepped up in her rookie season at the college level.
"Casey gets all the hustle points," said Barron of his freshman forward who is in the top six in the Ivy League in rebounding and was named as the Ivy Women's Basketball Rookie of the Week for her performance over the weekend. "She'll tip the ball, she'll keep it alive, she'll dive on the floor. She does a little bit of everything and she does everything well."
Barron believed that his team emulated Lockwood's approach as it swept Brown and Yale. "I think we just loosened up and played, we played without any excuse," said Barron, who got 18 points and 12 rebounds from sophomore center Becky Brown and 12 points from sophomore guard Katy O'Brien in the win over Yale.
"Colgate was a game where things weren't going well for us. We were coming off an 18-day break, the weather was horrible. We were thinking about everything but being competitive in that game. We were making excuses before we even played that game. We said that¹s enough."
The Tigers' win over Brown, which brought a 2-0 Ivy mark into the weekend, could serve as a turning point for Princeton, "I think that game may have gotten us over the hump," said Barron.
"The start we had to that game was great. We just came out and played loose. They need to just step up and play and use their talent."
The Tigers' solid weekend has Barron confident that the team can be a factor in the Ivy race. "Our goal is to win our home games and split on the road," maintained Barron, whose club faces a formidable test when it plays at Dartmouth on February 6 and at defending Ivy champion Harvard on February 7.
"This is a league where anybody can beat anybody. We just want to maintain some momentum here. We could play well and lose these next two games. I just want to see us be competitive."
Lockwood believes the team is developing a chemistry that can help it ultimately get the most out of its potential.
"Our team is basically split between freshmen and sophomores, our team is really close," said Lockwood.
"I think this has helped us get through the rough spots. I think we have some better basketball in us. We've struggled all year with playing a full 40 minutes. I think we pretty much did that last night. We know it's something we need to work on."
In any event, the Tigers are certainly getting a full effort out of Lockwood.
