HARTFORD, Conn. - Rutgers, seeded second in the BIG EAST Championship, dropped its quarterfinal game to seventh-seeded Louisville, 57-56, Sunday evening at the XL Center.
The game saw a staggering a season-high 27 lead changes and a tie score seven times. Both teams led by their largest margins in the first half, The Scarlet Knights by five with 14:49 left and the Cardinals by four at the 10:54 mark.
Rutgers (24-6) was led in scoring by senior
Matee Ajavon (Newark, N.J.) and sophomore
Epiphanny Prince (Brooklyn, N.Y.), each with 13 points. Center
Kia Vaughn (Bronx, N.Y.) added 12 and seven rebounds.
Junior forward Angel McCoughtry sparked Louisville (22-8) with a game-high 20 points.
After an open lay-up from Candyce Bingham with 32.8 seconds left in the game put Louisville back on top, 56-55, Carson missed a jumper from the left side with eight seconds remaining and the Cardinals came away with defensive rebound.
Rutgers recovered possession after an errant in-bounds pass at the other end, giving the Scarlet Knights one final chance with just over four seconds left on the clock.
Prince took the ball the length of the floor with 4.4 seconds remaining and was unable to get off the last-effort shot, sealing the upset win for the Cardinals.
With Rutgers guarding a 26-25 lead at the half, UofL opened the second stanza with a quick 5-0 run before senior Essence Carson (Paterson, N.J.) stepped up with a long jumper to cut the Louisville lead to 30-28 less than two minutes in.
Rutgers grabbed the edge back, 33-32, with 16:50 to play on a lay-up from Vaughn off a crisp pass from Ajavon, but the UofL charged back on a lay-up from McCoughtry. There were a total of 15 lead changes in the second-half alone.
After a drive to the basket by Prince tied the contest at 51-51 with 3:33 to go, McCoughtry drained a 10-footer to give the lead back to the visitors. Prince answered with a triple to push RU ahead, 54-53 with 2:45 on the clock. The Scarlet Knights stole the ball on the Cardinals next possession but could not capitalize. After regaining possession, Barlow found Bingham wide open on a backdoor screen to shift the lead once again.
A steal and subsequent lay-in by Carson pushed Rutgers to a 56-55 advantage with just under a minute to play but another open lay-in by Bingham would be the difference.
In the first half, Louisville was up 5-3 before Ajavon opened up her own 7-0 scoring spurt to give RU its largest lead of the game (10-5) with 14:49 remaining. The Cardinals scored the next nine straight to take a 14-10 edge at the 10:54 mark before Rutgers ripped off a 7-0 run- including a pair of lay-ups from sophomore
Rashidat Junaid (Chesilhurst, N.J.) - over the next three minutes to take a 17-14 lead with 8:00 to go before the half. RU led 26-25 at the break.
The Cardinals out-rebounded RU, 34-23- including a 13-6 edge on the offensive end. Ajavon was one off her season-high in assists, tallying eight dimes. Prince added three steals.
POSTGAME NOTES
With The Loss'?
' Rutgers falls to 18-12 all-time in the BIG EAST Tournament, including a 14-4 mark in neutral-site contests.
' The Scarlet Knights move to 8-5 in quarterfinal games.
' This is the first time RU hasn't reached at least thesemifinals since the 2003 season.
Matee Ajavon'?
' Tied for the team lead in scoring with 13 points, nine in the first half. This is the ninth time Ajavon has led or tied for the team lead in scoring this season.
' Led the team for the 18th time this season with a game-high eight assists.
Kia Vaughn'?
' Scored eight of her 12 points in the second half.
' Led the team for the 20th time this season with seven rebounds.
Epiphanny Prince'?
' Scored 10 of her team-high tying 13 points in the second half. Prince has led or tied for the team lead in scoring on 14 different occasions.
' Tied her season-high with three three-point field goals.
Lead Changes
' There were 27 lead changes in the game, the most all season for Rutgers. The previous high came against Stanford in the season opener, when there were 15 lead changes and 11 ties.
On the Boards'?
' Rutgers was out-rebounded 34-23 in the game. This marks only the ninth time this season that the Scarlet Knights have been beaten on the boards, falling to 5-4 in those contests. RU trailed 13-6 on the offensive glass.
' The Scarlet Knights only pulled down 13 rebounds in the first half, tying their second lowest in any half this season. Against West Virginia on Jan. 29, RU recorded 12 rebounds in the first half.
D-Fence'?
' Rutgers has held its opponents to under 59 points in 23 games this season and 61 or fewer in 27 contests.
