Rutgers Holds Off Dartmouth in NCAA First Round, 63-58
Mar 19 | Women's Basketball
TRENTON, NJ - Third-seeded Rutgers (26-4) raced out to a 13-0 run and held on to defeat Dartmouth (23-7) 63-58 in the NCAA Tournament first round March 19 at Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, NJ.
The Scarlet Knights never trailed, and led by as many as 16 points (26-10, 5:59) in the first half, but a midcourt buzzer beater brought Dartmouth to within seven points at the end of the first (32-25). The Big Green crawled to within six at 50-44 with 7:12 remaining in the contest. However, five straight points by fifth-year senior Cappie Pondexter (Chicago, IL) extended the Scarlet Knights’ lead to 55-44 with just under seven minutes remaining.
Dartmouth again fought its way back and trailed only 59-55 with 2:21 to play. Following an offensive charge drawn by Matee Ajavon (Newark, NJ), Michelle Campbell’s (Princeton, NJ) putback with 1:14 left gave RU a six-point cushion (61-55). That lead was cut in half after Dartmouth hit a three with 46.3 seconds remaining in the game. Dartmouth fouled, but Ajavon missed the front end of a one-and-one, followed by a Big Green miss and foul on the floor by Kia Vaughn (Bronx, NY). But, Dartmouth had not yet reached the bonus, and during the ensuing possession, Essence Carson (Paterson, NJ) drew another charge (13.7 seconds). Pondexter made two free throws with 12.9 ticks remaining to ice the victory.
The Scarlet Knights were led by Pondexter, who registered 11 points in the first half and finished the game with 21. The only other Scarlet Knight to score in double figures was Ajavon, who recorded 14 of her 19 points in the second half, adding game highs of five assists and four steals.
Vaughn led the way for the Scarlet Knights inside, pulling down eight first-half rebounds and a total of 11 for the game, despite playing just 17 minutes due to foul trouble.
RU’s defense produced 24 points off of 12 Dartmouth turnovers. The Scarlet Knights had just six turnovers of their own, with one of those coming in the final 20 minutes.
The Scarlet Knights will face the winner of the Texas A&M-TCU game in the NCAA Tournament second round Tuesday, March 21. The game will tip off at either 7:00 or 9:00 p.m. (approximately), and will be shown on ESPN2. The game will be carried on WCTC 1450 AM and WRSU 88.7 FM, and a live stream of the audio, as well as live statistics, will be available via www.scarletknights.com.
GAME NOTES
Moving up the Charts
With her 21-point performance, Cappie Pondexter surpassed Terry Dorner to move into fifth on the Rutgers single-season scoring list. Pondexter now has
644 points on the season, an average of 21.47 on the year.
To go along with her game-high 11 rebounds, Kia Vaughn registered a game-high three blocks. With the three rejections, the 6-4 freshman has moved into fifth place on the Rutgers single-season blocks list with 65 on the season.
Bouncing Back
Rutgers entered the NCAA Tournament following a 56-40 loss to West Virginia in the BIG EAST Quarterfinals. Despite the loss, Rutgers has been able to bounce back after a defeat each time this season. The Scarlet Knights are 4-0 after a loss and have won by an average of 11 points in those contests.
Official Basketball Box Score
Dartmouth College vs Rutgers University
03/19/06 7:14pm at Trenton, NJ (Sovereign Bank Arena)
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VISITORS: Dartmouth College 23-7
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
34 Scott, Sydney....... f 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 2 19
35 Perry, Krista....... f 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 5 5 3 4 4 0 1 0 38
10 Cullen, Jeannie..... g 1-6 1-6 0-0 1 4 5 0 3 0 0 0 0 21
12 Soriaga, Angie...... g 8-15 6-10 1-1 1 3 4 3 23 2 5 0 1 37
21 Kamara, Fatima...... g 3-7 0-0 0-0 1 6 7 2 6 3 4 0 0 29
25 Rose, Darcy......... 3-5 0-0 1-1 2 2 4 3 7 0 2 0 0 24
31 Taylor, Ashley...... 4-15 2-7 3-4 0 7 7 2 13 4 0 0 0 32
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 22-55 9-23 5-6 8 27 35 14 58 13 12 1 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-29 34.5% 2nd Half: 12-26 46.2% Game: 40.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 6-15 40.0% Game: 39.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 3-4 75.0% Game: 83.3% 1
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HOME TEAM: Rutgers University 26-4
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
25 PONDEXTER, Cappie... f 8-21 3-6 2-3 2 4 6 0 21 2 1 0 1 39
34 CAMPBELL, Michelle.. f 3-7 0-0 0-0 3 3 6 2 6 0 1 0 1 35
05 CARSON, Essence..... g 4-11 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 0 8 3 0 1 1 36
15 VAUGHN, Kia......... g 2-4 0-0 1-2 2 9 11 5 5 0 1 3 0 17
22 AJAVON, Matee....... g 6-13 0-1 7-8 1 1 2 3 19 5 2 1 4 39
03 LOCKE, Courtney..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
12 ADAMS, Katie........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
20 REED, Tudy.......... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 8
21 ZURICH, Heather..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
42 THEODORIS, Mariota.. 2-2 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 1 4 0 0 0 0 18
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 25-60 3-7 10-13 11 26 37 11 63 11 6 5 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-32 43.8% 2nd Half: 11-28 39.3% Game: 41.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-4 25.0% 2nd Half: 2-3 66.7% Game: 42.9% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-3 100 % 2nd Half: 7-10 70.0% Game: 76.9% 0
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Officials: Lisa Jones, Jeff Caudle, Lolly Saenz
Technical fouls: Dartmouth College-None. Rutgers University-None.
Attendance:
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Dartmouth College............. 25 33 - 58
Rutgers University............ 32 31 - 63
Points in the paint-DART 16,RUTGERS 24. Points off turnovers-DART 10,RUTGERS 24.
2nd chance points-DART 3,RUTGERS 12. Fast break points-DART 0,RUTGERS 0.
Bench points-DART 20,RUTGERS 4. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-DART 2nd-00:46, RUTGERS 2nd-01:14.
Largest lead-DART None, RUTGERS by 16 1st-05:59.
