Rutgers Season Ends Against Tennessee in Sweet Sixteen, 76-69
Mar 26 | Women's Basketball
CLEVELAND, OH - Third-seeded Rutgers (27-5) saw its 2005-2006 season come to an end, losing 76-69 to second-seeded Tennessee (31-4) in the NCAA Tournament Cleveland Region semifinals March 26 at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Scarlet Knights were led by All-American Cappie Pondexter’s (Chicago, IL) 22 points, seven rebounds and three steals, and sophomore Matee Ajavon’s (Newark, NJ) 24 tallies and four assists. Rutgers freshman center Kia Vaughn (Bronx, NY) pulled down eight rebounds and scored 10 points.
The Lady Volunteers jumped out to an early 11-4 lead, but Rutgers responded with a 15-1 run to grab a seven-point lead (19-12) with 9:01 remaining in the first half. That lead eventually stretched to nine (23-14, 7:08), as the Scarlet Knight defense caused five turnovers and put up eight points off those miscues during the span.
The Lady Vols answered with a 15-4 run of their own to end the half, and entered the locker room with a two-point advantage (29-27). A 9-0 spurt early in the second half made it an 11-point UT cushion (44-33, 14:54), and the Scarlet Knights were never able to cut the margin to less than seven for the remainder of the contest.
RU actually outrebounded the much larger Lady Vols 37-29, and made 50.0 (6-12) percent of its three-point attempts (5-12, .417 for Tennessee). However, the Lady Vols outscored the Scarlet Knights 19-14 off turnovers, and UT attempted 14 more free throws (17-21, .810) than RU (7-7, 1.000) in the second half.
The loss ended RU’s season with a 27-5 overall record. The Scarlet Knights posted a perfect 16-0 record to win their second outright BIG EAST Conference regular-season title, and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year (Elite Eight in 2005).
The game also was the final one in a Scarlet jersey for five Rutgers seniors – Aquisha Cahoe (Philadelphia, PA), Michelle Campbell (Princeton, NJ), Courtney Locke (San Marcos, TX) Pondexter and Mariota Theodoris (Riviera Beach, FL).
Official Basketball Box Score
Rutgers vs Tennessee
03/26/06 12:00 pm at Quicken Loans Arena -- Cleveland, OH
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VISITORS: Rutgers 27-5
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 2-4 0-0 1-1 3 1 4 4 5 1 2 0 0 25
15 VAUGHN, Kia......... c 5-6 0-0 0-0 3 5 8 4 10 2 1 2 0 31
05 CARSON, Essence..... g 2-10 0-0 4-4 0 4 4 5 8 5 2 0 2 39
22 AJAVON, Matee....... g 8-18 3-4 5-6 3 2 5 4 24 4 5 0 1 40
25 PONDEXTER, Cappie... g 7-20 3-8 5-6 2 5 7 1 22 2 5 0 3 40
20 REED, Tudy.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
42 THEODORIS, Mariota.. 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 5 0 0 1 1 0 24
TEAM................ 5 2 7
Totals.............. 24-58 6-12 15-17 17 20 37 23 69 14 16 3 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-23 34.8% 2nd Half: 16-35 45.7% Game: 41.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 3-8 37.5% Game: 50.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-10 80.0% 2nd Half: 7-7 100 % Game: 88.2% 2
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HOME TEAM: Tennessee 31-4
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 SPENCER, Sidney..... f 0-6 0-3 0-0 2 4 6 2 0 7 1 0 3 34
03 PARKER, Candace..... f 9-22 0-0 11-13 1 4 5 2 29 1 4 6 0 39
55 ANOSIKE, Nicky...... f 3-3 0-0 1-3 2 0 2 3 7 3 3 0 2 24
50 FLUKER, Tye'sha..... c 0-3 0-0 1-2 2 2 4 3 1 0 1 1 1 31
05 ZOLMAN, Shanna...... g 10-14 5-9 4-4 0 3 3 1 29 2 1 0 0 40
13 REDDING, Dominique.. 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 4
14 HORNBUCKLE, Alexis.. 3-4 0-0 4-4 4 1 5 1 10 3 2 0 1 25
33 DOSTY, Sybil........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 25-53 5-12 21-26 12 17 29 14 76 16 12 7 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-32 37.5% 2nd Half: 13-21 61.9% Game: 47.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-7 14.3% 2nd Half: 4-5 80.0% Game: 41.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 80.0% 2nd Half: 17-21 81.0% Game: 80.8% 1
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Officials: Denise Kanter, Wesley Dean, Kathleen Lynch
Technical fouls: Rutgers-None. Tennessee-None.
Attendance:
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Rutgers....................... 27 42 - 69
Tennessee..................... 29 47 - 76
NCAA Cleveland Regional - Semifinal #1
Points in the paint-RUTGERS 22,UT 26. Points off turnovers-RUTGERS 14,UT 19.
2nd chance points-RUTGERS 14,UT 15. Fast break points-RUTGERS 0,UT 6.
Bench points-RUTGERS 0,UT 10. Score tied-2 times. Lead changed-3 times.
Last FG-RUTGERS 2nd-00:10, UT 2nd-01:14.
Largest lead-RUTGERS by 9 1st-07:08, UT by 13 2nd-10:48.
