No. 7/8 Rutgers Secures Share of BIG EAST Title
Feb 25 | Women's Basketball
PITTSBURGH, PA - The Scarlet Knights assured themselves of at least a share of the BIG EAST Conference regular-season title as No. 7/8 Rutgers (23-3, 15-0 BIG EAST) defeated Pittsburgh (18-8, 9-6 BIG EAST) 65-50 Feb. 25. RU leads the conference standings with its 15-0 record, and will finish the regular season at home Monday, Feb. 27, against second-place Connecticut (26-3, 14-1 BIG EAST).
Fifth-year senior Cappie Pondexter (Chicago, IL) posted her 100th career double-digit scoring total, and 51st 20-point effort, with 23 tallies against the Panthers. Classmate Mariota Theodoris (Riviera Beach, FL) notched the first double-double of her career with 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Matee Ajavon (Newark, NJ) added 14 points, six assists and two steals. Sophomore Essence Carson (Paterson, NJ) rounded out RU’s double-figure scorers with 10 tallies.
Rutgers, winner of its last 11 games, has now earned victories in 23 consecutive BIG EAST regular-season contests. By allowing 50 points to the Panthers, the Scarlet Knights posted their 13th-straight defensive game of fewer than 60 tallies.
The Scarlet Knights turned 11 Pitt turnovers into 19 points, but turned it over themselves a season-low six times, the fourth straight game Rutgers has had 10 or fewer turnovers.
After Pitt scored the game’s first bucket, Rutgers never trailed again, steadily turning a seven-point halftime lead (31-24) into a 15-point advantage (55-40, 5:50).
With a win against Connecticut Feb. 27, RU will win the BIG EAST regular-season title outright for the second straight year. A Connecticut victory will mean that the Scarlet Knights and Huskies will share the regular-season title with identical 15-1 records. If that occurs, the top seed for the BIG EAST Tournament will be determined by a coin flip.
The RU-UConn match-up is a sellout, and will tipoff at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2, WCTC 1450 AM and WRSU 88.7 FM. A live stream of the audio, as well as live statistics, will be available via www.scarletknights.com.
Official Basketball Box Score
Rutgers vs PITT
02/25/06 2:00 PM at Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA
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VISITORS: Rutgers 23-3,15-0BigEast
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
34 CAMPBELL, Michelle.. f 0-1 0-0 2-4 1 4 5 3 2 1 0 2 0 37
15 VAUGHN, Kia......... c 2-5 0-0 2-2 2 2 4 4 6 0 0 0 0 14
05 CARSON, Essence..... g 5-8 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 3 10 1 2 0 0 39
22 AJAVON, Matee....... g 5-11 0-1 4-4 1 2 3 2 14 6 3 0 2 40
25 PONDEXTER, Cappie... g 8-17 0-1 7-8 1 5 6 1 23 3 0 0 0 38
03 LOCKE, Courtney..... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
20 REED, Tudy.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
42 THEODORIS, Mariota.. 4-9 0-0 2-6 7 4 11 3 10 0 1 2 0 29
TEAM................ 1 3 4
Totals.............. 24-52 0-3 17-24 15 20 35 17 65 11 6 4 2 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-25 52.0% 2nd Half: 11-27 40.7% Game: 46.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-2 0.0% 2nd Half: 0-1 0.0% Game: 0.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-8 62.5% 2nd Half: 12-16 75.0% Game: 70.8% 4
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HOME TEAM: PITT 18-8,9-6 BigEast
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
33 STEWART, Xenia...... f 1-6 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 2 2 2 4 0 0 25
52 TAYLOR, Cheron...... f 0-2 0-0 0-0 3 7 10 4 0 0 1 0 0 30
45 WALKER, Marcedes.... c 7-18 0-0 10-13 6 4 10 2 24 0 1 1 0 38
00 WINN, Mallorie...... g 5-15 2-6 0-0 1 0 1 3 12 2 2 2 0 39
01 ZELLOUS, Shavonte... g 4-8 0-0 1-2 5 3 8 4 9 2 2 0 1 37
11 LIM, Karlyle........ 0-4 0-0 1-3 2 0 2 3 1 1 0 0 0 13
32 BROWN, Maddy........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 5
44 TAYLOR, Danielle.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6
55 TAFEN, Sylvie....... 0-1 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 7
TEAM................ 4 4 1
Totals.............. 17-56 2-6 14-20 23 16 39 21 50 7 11 3 1 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-30 30.0% 2nd Half: 8-26 30.8% Game: 30.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-3 0.0% 2nd Half: 2-3 66.7% Game: 33.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-9 66.7% 2nd Half: 8-11 72.7% Game: 70.0% 2
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Officials: Barbara Jo Smith (R), Denise Brooks-Clauser, John Orminski
Technical fouls: Rutgers-None. PITT-None.
Attendance: 4115
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Rutgers....................... 31 34 - 65
PITT.......................... 24 26 - 50
ID-399837
Points in the paint-RUTGERS 24,PITT 20. Points off turnovers-RUTGERS 19,PITT 5.
2nd chance points-RUTGERS 16,PITT 21. Fast break points-RUTGERS 6,PITT 4.
Bench points-RUTGERS 10,PITT 3. Score tied-3 times. Lead changed-1 time.
Last FG-RUTGERS 2nd-00:48, PITT 2nd-00:56.
Largest lead-RUTGERS by 15 2nd-05:50, PITT by 2 1st-19:49.
