Women’s basketball dropped its home opener against Princeton to earn its first loss of the year Sunday.

The Colonials (1–1) were defeated 75–50 by the 2018-19 Ivy League champion Tigers (2–0). The squad’s field goal percentage waned throughout the first three quarters, decreasing from 40 to 20 percent in the third frame, and the squad’s 20 turnovers prevented the team from catching Princeton.

“We are addressing the mindset just in terms of what it takes to beat good teams, how to handle adversity when things aren’t going our way and how to make adjustments so that we’re not making the same mistakes over and over again,” head coach Jennifer Rizzotti said.

Freshman forward Faith Blethen led the team with 16 points, shooting at a .500 clip from inside and outside the arc. Redshirt freshman guard Tori Hyduke followed behind with 10 points of her own, and redshirt freshman Mayowa Taiwo led the team with seven rebounds.

The Colonials were not as dominant in the paint as Princeton, scoring 12 points fewer than the Tigers. Princeton’s bench also topped GW, contributing 23 points, 12 more than GW’s bench. Princeton also out-shouldered the Colonials on the boards, grabbing 47 rebounds to GW’s 30.

The Colonials started the game strong, earning an early lead off a layup by graduate student forward Alexandra Maund, followed by a three-point bucket from Hyduke. The Colonials continued to extend their lead, going on a nine-point scoring run.

But in the latter half of the quarter, the Colonials gave up several fouls and failed to convert on offense, allowing the Tigers to trim the lead. At the end of the first quarter, the Colonials held their lead by a thin margin of 14–13.

The Colonials maintained their lead for much of the second quarter while the Tigers lurked closely behind. At the end of the frame, the Colonials trailed 29–27, marking the first lead game change since the opening tipoff.

“I also think that we needed to adjust the physical style of play, whether it’s pushing through screens or being physical in the post,” Rizzotti said. “I thought our guys could have done a better job of returning that physicality.”

The Tigers pulled away from the Colonials, capitalizing on miscues and turnovers by the GW offense and catching the defense flat footed on the fast break. As the third quarter wrapped up, the Colonials fell behind 53–36.

The Tigers gained 29 points off the Colonials’ 20 turnovers. Although Princeton committed 19 turnovers, the Colonials could only convert 13 points.

“Their guys came out with a killer mentality,” Rizzotti said. “And you could tell even though I tried to call two timeouts to staunch the bleeding, it was their level of intensity, defensively, went up, their toughness on offense went up, and we weren’t able to match that.”

Maund’s time on the court was cut short when she suffered a sprained ankle in the third quarter. Rizzotti said the team will know more information tomorrow.

Poor passing plagued the GW offense in the fourth quarter as the Tigers continued to rack up steals, nabbing 16 on the night. The Tigers earned their biggest lead of the game at the 2:13 minute mark, leading GW by 25 points. The Colonials failed to rally their offense, ending the game 75–50.

“In our offense, we just weren’t cutting hard enough, we weren’t getting open well enough, and we should have been back-cutting,” Hyduke said. “So our mentality just needs to get better in the games to follow.”

Blethen said the team’s chemistry is still a work in progress, and it is continuing to work on its system with the new players on the roster.

“I think we have a lot of great pieces, and we’re still just working on putting them all together and trusting the process,” Blethen said.

Rizzotti said the team has area to grow, adding that the loss will be a learning moment moving forward.

“We’re lucky that we have the room to improve a lot,” Rizzotti said. “At the same time, we have a lot of really good players and a lot of depth. So this game experience hopefully will end up being really, really good for us. It’s just hard on the day of the game to feel that way.”

The Colonials return to the court on the road at Lehigh Wednesday. Tip off is slated for 11 a.m.