No. 23/23 Rutgers Downs Marquette 76-53
Jan 18 | Women's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Four players tallied double digits to lead a balanced attack as No. 23/23 Rutgers rolled to a 76-53 victory over Marquette in BIG EAST play on Sunday afternoon at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.
| For the fifth straight game and seventh time in her last 10 games, Epiphanny Prince reached the 20-point mark. (Tom Ciszek/NJSportsPhoto) |
Junior guard Epiphanny Prince (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scored 16 of her game-high 23 points in the first half to pace the Scarlet Knights (10-5, 2-2). It marked the ninth 20-point plus performance of the season for Prince.
Senior Heather Zurich (Montvale, N.J) collected 13 points, shooting a perfect 6-of-6 from the field. Junior Brittany Ray (Bronx, N.Y.) also had 13 points and redshirt freshman Khadijah Rushdan (Wilmington, Del.) added 12.
Marquette senior Krystal Ellis had 14 and teammate Angel Robinson 13 points for the Golden Eagles (11-7, 2-2).
With a 34-27 lead at intermission, Rutgers pushed the advantage to nine twice in the first 1:15 of the second half. The Golden Eagles, behind a lay-up from Robinson and a free throw by Ellis, cut the edge to four (40-36) with 14:25 remaining.
Rutgers responded by blowing the game open, ripping off 16 straight points while making off five of its field goal opportunities over the next three and a half minutes. A host of players - four in total - contributed in the scoring rout with Ray and Prince donating five points apiece. Ray opened the run with a three-pointer from the far corner and concluded it with a jumper with 10:30 showing to push Rutgers to a 56-36 lead.
Marquette, who went nearly five minutes without a field goal, closed the gap to 15 twice over the next couple of minutes but would get no closer.
The Scarlet Knights, who led from the opening tip, jumped out to 14-6 lead following a baseline jumper by freshman guard Nikki Speed (Pasadena, Calif.) with 13:59 on the clock. The Golden Eagles closed to 22-20, the closest they would come, on a three-pointer by Ellis with 6:29 to play in the first.
RU added distance in the form of field goals as an offensive put-back by freshman April Sykes (Starkville, Miss.) followed by a triple by Rushdan thrust the lead back to seven points at 27-20. The seven-point edge stood at the half.
The Scarlet Knights shot 51 percent from the field, including a 66.7 percent performance in the second half. RU, averaging 16.1 turnovers prior to the game, committed a season-low eight miscues.
Rutgers is back in action on Tuesday, Jan. 20 hosting West Virginia at 7:30 p.m.
POSTGAME NOTES
WITH THE WIN
With the 76-53 win over Marquette, Rutgers improved to 5-0 all-time against the Golden Eagles, including 2-0 at home. The Scarlet Knights have won their last seven BIG EAST home openers, with their last loss at the RAC to begin the BIG EAST schedule coming on January 5, 2002 against Miami. RU also improved to 176-74 (.704) in their 250th game as a member of the BIG EAST Conference, including the BIG EAST Tournament.
PACK YOUR BAGS
Rutgers was on the road for its first three BIG EAST games. It marked the first time the Scarlet Knights have played three straight league games to start a season in their 14-year history in the conference. The only time RU has played three straight road games in the BIG EAST was in 1998-99 when they won at Pittsburgh, Boston College and Miami from February 3 to February 10. The Scarlet Knights then defeated Notre Dame back at the RAC on February 13.
FEEL GOOD CHARITY
For the second consecutive game, Rutgers was a perfect 8-for-8 at the free throw line in the first half. It was the seventh time this season the Scarlet Knights were perfect shooting free throws in the first half. However, the Knights were only perfect on as many as four free throws up until the last two games. RU also began today's game with 11 consecutive made free throws for the first time this season.
SHARP SHOOTER, PART 1
Dating back to the game against Louisville on January 11, junior Epiphanny Prince has made 22 consecutive free throws. This impressive streak included a perfect 12-for-12 effort at the line against Villanova as well as 7-for-7 today against Marquette.
SHARP SHOOTER, PART 2
With her perfect 6-for-6 effort from the field against Marquette, senior Heather Zurich did not miss a field goal for the sixth time in her career, but the first when attempting at least three shots. The 13 points by Zurich match her season high against Prairie View A&M on December 11 and the six made FGs are a season high, topping her previous high of four.
RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME
For the fifth straight game and seventh time in her last 10 games, Epiphanny Prince reached the 20-point mark with her 23 point performance against Marquette. It was the ninth time Prince has eclipsed 20 points this season and the 18th time in her career. Prince (1,216) also moved into 20th place on the all-time Rutgers' scoring list, passing current New York Liberty head coach Pat Coyle (1,209).
BALANCED ATTACK
In their 76-53 win over Marquette, Rutgers had four players reach double figures in scoring for the first time since the second round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament against Iowa State. The Scarlet Knights were led by Epiphanny Prince (23) in scoring for the 13th time this season. Brittany Ray and Heather Zurich each scored 13 points, and Khadijah Rushdan established a new career high with 12 points.
PROTECTION PLAN
With only eight turnovers against the Golden Eagles, the Scarlet Knights had their fewest amount of turnovers this season, surpassing the nine turnovers against Princeton on November 18, 2008. The last time Rutgers had eight or fewer turnovers was against Connecticut in the BIG EAST Tournament Championship game on March 6, 2007. RU only committed six turnovers as they clinched the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
BACK ON TRACK
Rutgers never trailed in their 76-53 victory over Marquette on January 18, with the final score reflecting their largest lead of the contest. It was the fifth time this season RU led wire-to-wire, with the last such occurrence taking place on December 19 against Lafayette. The Scarlet Knights also out-rebounded the Golden Eagles 30-21 in today's game. It was the second straight game RU has pulled down more rebounds than their opponent after a streak of four games when they were beaten on the glass. Rutgers is now 9-0 this season when out-rebounding their opponents.
ARE THEY CALLED SUBS OR HEROES?
After five straight games of declining bench scoring and seeing their opponents' bench score more points, the Rutgers bench erupted for 17 points against Marquette, led by 13 points from Heather Zurich. Freshman April Sykes contributed the other four points as the Scarlet Knights held a 17-13 advantage in bench scoring. The 17 points were the most for the RU bench since they scored 24 points against California on November 21 this season.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach C. Vivian Stringer
Opening Statement:
"I obviously was pleased with the game, not just because we won, but because I thought that we executed and began to play the game the way it's supposed to be played, both defensively as well as offensively. To turn the ball over eight times for us is huge. It was good. I thought the smaller lineup helped us initially. It was nice to see Nikki (Speed) and Khadijah (Rushdan) put together two games back-to-back. It was nice to see Heather (Zurich) hit some key shots. And Epiphanny (Prince) has just been phenomenal the whole time. We're much more pleased, especially going into the West Virginia game on Tuesday."
Is this team where you want it to be:
"We're close to that. We as a team and certainly as coaches are recognizing the Scarlet Knights. I can't say that I knew who we were before. I wouldn't go as far as to say that we've found ourselves. I think that we can lay claim that we're darn close to it. We do know what we're looking for and it feels good. The kind of statistical information that we're talking about is a low scoring opponent, not turning the ball over much, to be intense on the defensive side of the ball and taking advantage of our offensive fire power. I thought that we held each other accountable when someone took a drive or shot or whatever and that's good to hear. It's one thing for us as coaches to say we have to be really excited and intense about the defense and it's another thing if we as a team embrace that."
On if the team will gain their locker-room privileges back:
"I think what we're trying to do is find who are the Scarlet Knights, who resides in this house. We are beginning to become the Scarlet Knights, so the Scarlet Knights can go to their own home. Right now we are visitors in a home we don't like. But I think we'll be back home because I don't like where we have to have our meetings either."
Brittany Ray
On her improved play in the second half:
"I know I missed all my shots in the first half. Like coach always says, the second half is always a clean slate and we just have to go out there and continue to do what we do well."
On what sparked the 16-0 run:
"I think most importantly, at halftime, coach Stringer told us that we have to be a second half team, not just a first half team. She told us to come out with extreme intensity and I think we did that pretty well."
Heather Zurich
On her role on the team:
"I'm just doing whatever I can to help the team. Obviously, the five people we had on the floor are playing great defense from the beginning of the game. Whether it's starting or coming off the bench, whatever coach needs me to do, that's what I'm going to do. I approach the game the same way. I'm focused during film, focused at practice and just taking everything in and trying to understand our opponent."
Epiphanny Prince
On the offense the last few games with the lane being more open:
"I like it a lot. I think it's easier for us to score that way because we have a lot of guards that can penetrate and when they double up on us we can kick it down to Kia (Vaughn) or we can shoot. When we penetrate it seems like something good normally comes out of it."
After starting 0-2 in the BIG EAST, what have the last two games meant to the team:
"It's important because it's given us our confidence back. We lost to some teams that we feel like we could of beaten. These two wins give us confidence because a lot of us lost it, but now we've gained it back with these wins."
Marquette Head Coach Terri Mitchell
Opening Statements:
"You cannot have the kind of droughts we did in the game. At 34-30 I thought we were in a good fight, but they took off and we did not, they hit their shots and we did not and a four-point game changed quickly to 10, 15 and 20. That is what happens in this league if you do not come ready to play for all 40 minutes. You cannot have a game with five assists and think you are going to win. You have to share the ball, get it inside, and we did not do those things, and certainly defensively we had major breakdowns and they took advantage of it."
On preparing for RU's small lineup:
"Well we knew they used the small lineup against Villanova, so we were anticipating one or the other. The offense they ran, we adjusted as we went, and it looked good early when we were switching from a zone to man. I think for us the key was to make switches defensively, and while we did that, while our team was focused, we were good. When we lost focus we were not very good."
On Rutgers offense:
"They hit great shots. What I am disappointed in is that to me, a 20-point game, I am thoroughly disappointed in that. If you are going to lose, you go down fighting, and I felt that we got back on our heels and didn't recover."
On RU guard Epiphanny Prince:
"I think she is just explosive. We needed to make her work harder. One-on-one is not how you can defend her. You need two people and even then she just finds a rhythm. She is cool, calm and collected. You see the shot clock and she is scoring with under 10 seconds remaining and it really doesn't faze her at all. She is a tremendous player and she showed all of that this afternoon."
Senior guard Krystal Ellis
On the game:
"We went backwards when they went on their run. We should have fought harder. They hit all their open shots. We did not rotate right, so we only have ourselves to blame for what happened."
On Rutgers as a top-ten team:
"I think they are a very elite team in the BIG EAST. Any given day, any team in the BIG EAST can win. We did have an off day, and I think that helped them, but I feel that Rutgers is a good team and even though they lost players from last year they are still an elite team in the BIG EAST and we did not capitalize."
