Prince Powers Rutgers Past VCU, 57-51
Mar 21 | Women's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Junior guard Epiphanny Prince (Brooklyn, N.Y.) tallied 17 of her game-high 26 points in the second half to lead Rutgers to a 57-51 victory over VCU in first round action of the 2009 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship at the Louis Brown Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon.
| Senior Kia Vaughn scored 13 points, going 6-of-12 from the field. (Tom Ciszek/NJSportsPhoto) |
Senior Kia Vaughn (Bronx, N.Y.) was the only other RU player in double figures with 13 points.
The seventh-seeded Scarlet Knights (20-12) will face Auburn (30-3) Monday evening at 7 p.m. at the RAC. The Tigers, the No. 2 seed, blasted No. 15 seed Lehigh, 85-49, in the first game of the afternoon.
Seniors Quanitra Hollingsworth and Radoslava Bachvarova each had 16 points to lead the Rams (26-7).
With a 25-23 lead at intermission, Rutgers opened the second half with six unanswered points. Vaughn accounted for all three baskets with the last of the trio pushing the Scarlet Knights to a 31-25 advantage with 17:09 remaining.
After the Rams scored two from the stripe and Hollingsworth converted a 10-footer to cut RU's lead to two, the home squad - behind the play of Prince- pieced together a 12-4 run. Prince started and ended the spurt with a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays, sandwiching an offensive put-back and a fast break lay-up into the mix to give RU a 43-33 edge with 10:52 to go.
VCU got to within seven points (44-37) before RU scored 11 answered points to pull ahead 55-37 with 6:21 to play. Junior Brittany Ray (Bronx, N.Y.) had five points and assisted on another basket and Prince tallied six points over the less than three minute span.
The Rams answered with a 12-0 scoring run, capped by a three-pointer by Bachvarova, with 1:27 left to close to 55-49. That would be as close as VCU would come.
Two free throws by Prince just over three minutes into the game pushed Rutgers ahead, 8-1. Vaughn had four of the Scarlet Knights' first eight points. VCU used a 12-3 scoring run to take its first lead of the game on a three-point play by Hollingsworth at the midway point of the first.
The Rams went ahead by as many as four points before Prince, who missed her first five shots of the game, took over. The guard connected on a triple from the far side and then swiped the ball from Bachvarova and drove the floor for the layup to make it 18-17 Rutgers. The teams traded buckets the rest of the first stanza as RU went ahead, 25-23 at intermission.
Rutgers shot 43 percent from the field, including a 50 percent showing in the second half. VCU finished with a 34 percent shooting clip.
POSTGAME NOTES
• Rutgers defeated VCU 57-51 Saturday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Louis Brown Athletic Center. The win improves RU's record to 13-4 in first round NCAA Tournament games.
• With the win, Rutgers is now 33-19 in the NCAA Tournament. The Scarlet Knights improve to 11-3 in NCAA Tournament games at the Louis Brown Athletic Center and 6-2 in NCAA Tournament first round games at the RAC. Under head coach C. Vivian Stringer, RU moves to 6-1 in NCAA Tournament games at the RAC.
• Rutgers has now won five straight first round NCAA Tournament games. The Scarlet Knights are 9-0 in the last five years in NCAA Tournament first and second round games.
• The win against VCU is RU's 20th of the season. Rutgers has recorded 20 or more wins in seven straight seasons. This is the 25th 20-win campaign in RU's history.
• Junior Epiphanny Prince (Brooklyn, N.Y.) recorded her fifth career double-double with 26 points and 11 rebounds against VCU. It marks the second double-double for Prince in an NCAA Tournament game. The junior scored 10 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in an RU victory over Arizona State on March 26, 2007.
• Prince's 26 points mark a career-high in scoring in the NCAA Tournament. Her prior career-best was 21 points against Robert Morris on March 22, 2008. The 26 points also tied her third best scoring output of the season.
• Prince moved into ninth place in career scoring at Rutgers after scoring 26 points vs. VCU. She has 1,510 career points. She also moved into a tie for sixth place on the career steals list with four thefts against the Rams. The junior is tied with Vicky Picott, each has 257 career steals.
• Senior Kia Vaughn (Bronx, N.Y.) scored 13 points, going 6-of-12 from the field. She has shot 50 percent or better in eight straight games. Vaughn has scored in double figures in seven of her last eight contests.
• Vaughn played in her 133rd career game vs. VCU. She is tied with Essence Carson (2004-08) for the most games played in Scarlet Knight history.
• Rutgers is 14-1 when scoring 60 or more points this season.
• The Scarlet Knights improve to 7-7 in games decided by 10 points or fewer.
• Rutgers held a 14-2 advantage in fast-break points.
