Tigresses can't break through

STREATOR -- The Princeton Tigresses kept Friday's NCIC road opener against Streator close until the fourth quarter, but couldn't break through against the Lady Bulldogs in a 53-41 loss. "I thought it was a pretty solid effort," Princeton coach John Garvin said, whose team plays Saturday morning at Putnam County. "The main thing that we had problems with is that we gave them too many shots. I thought we played hard. We just couldn't get over the hump. I don't know if we were tired at the end or not, we just couldn't quite get over the hump." Abby Griggs scored a team high 11 points for the Tigresses and snatched eight rebounds. Ashly Lowdermilk contributed 10 points and four rebounds, and Lindsay Clark added nine points and snatched seven rebounds. Ashley McMullen lead Streator with 18 points, while Devin LeRoy chipped in 16 points. The Tigresses (2-5 0-2) did the their best job all season at handling the defensive pressure, Garvin said. "I thought we passed the ball better," Garvin said. "We still had 20 turnovers, but that wasn't all on passes. I was happy with that." The Tigresses fell behind early as McMullen scored the first eight points for Streator. The Tigresses didn't panic and climbed slowly climbed back into the game over the remainder of the first quarter tying the game at 14-14 when junior Lowdermilk made back-to-back baskets. However McMullen sank two free throws with :02.8 seconds left in the quarter putting the Lady Bulldogs ahead 16-14 at the end of the first quarter. Streator might have scored first in the second quarter, but the Tigresses used baskets from junior Sarah Evenson and Lindsay Clark to keep up. LeRoy answered scoring consecutive baskets to push Streator's lead to, 24-18. Freshman Brooke Jensen took offensive control for Princeton scoring the final four points of half, but the Tigresses still trailed 27-22 at the half. McMullen started the third-quarter scoring and Princeton's Clark came back with a basket. Katelyn Schmink made a free throw, but Jensen sunk a shot making it 30-26. Streator scored three more points over the next two minutes before Abby Griggs finally registered hoop for the Tigresses. Two more Lady Bulldog's baskets and a Clark made basket put Streator up 38-30 after the third quarter. Streator came out of the game quick in the fourth quarter scoring just 12 seconds into the quarter, but the Tigresses cut the Lady Bulldog lead to 42-37 behind baskets from Low-dermilk, Clark, and Griggs. Streator outscored the Tigresses 11-3 the rest of the way, four points by McMullen. "I thought we played most of the night solid defensively, Garvin said. "They (Streator) just got some offensive rebounds and got some breaks on us and got the lead late and we had trouble cutting back into it."