PISCATAWAY, N.J. – It was quite an impressive debut. The Rutgers women cruised to an 86-59 win over Saint Joseph’s on Friday night at the Rutgers Athletic Center. Scarlet Knight mentor C.Vivian Stringer was quick to point out this was a team Rutgers struggled to defeat a year ago. Last November on Hawk Hill, Rutgers edged St. Joe’s 56-50 in a game the hosts led as the contest wore down to the final minutes. On this evening, Rutgers raced to a 44-24 halftime lead and never looked back.
The Scarlet Knights were led by Epiphany Prince with 26 points and seven steals. The junior guard has the ability to hit from the perimeter, but also showed she can get in the lane. Prince penetrated to get easy shots or adjust to defensive rotations and pass off (4 assists) to open teammates. Kia Vaughn, Rutgers’ senior post player, was constantly double-teamed but was effective enough to score 11 points and grab six boards.
The big story was the coming out of Rutgers’ celebrated recruiting class of All-Americans. Among them, April Sykes was out with an ankle injury. The others – Brooklyn Pope, Nikki Speed, Chelsea Lee and Jasmine Dixon – all logged appreciable minutes and contributed.
“Normally when a team brings freshmen off the bench there is a drop off in talent,” St. Joe’s coach Cindy Griffin said. “Not with this group. Rutgers has freshmen that come in and pick up where the (veterans) left off.”
On this evening Pope, a 6-1 forward, was particularly impressive. She scored 10 points, had four steals and gathered eight rebounds in 10 minutes of action.
Pope did have a sequence that reminded everyone, as talented as the frosh are, there is a learning curve. On one play Pope pressured the inbounder, stole the pass and scored. On the very next play she reached over the baseline, hit the ball the inbounder possessed and was hit with a technical. Chalk it up to “freshman orientation.” Despite the mistake, pope’s play was another example of the intensity the first-year players bring.
“We wanted to push the ball before,” Stringer said, “but now we can do it because we have 12 people available.”
Stringer also noted her current roster gives flexibility in playing man, zone and of course, full-court pressing. No matter the defense utilized, Rutgers dominated the paint. St. Joseph’s scored 19 field goals on the night (19 of 47 for 40%) and only three came in the paint.
Guard Jenna Loschavio led the Hawks with 15 points and post player Ashley Logue added 11. Even Logue, a good inside scorer, did most of her scoring on fifteen-foot jumpers. For the Hawks, the lane was more congested than some on the New Jersey Turnpike at rush hour.
Notes
- Stringer was naturally pleased with the Rutgers frosh, noting, “When the lights come on they play. They have that competitiveness. Some of them play better than they practice.”
- Sykes should be a factor on her return. The 6-0 swingman can bury the perimeter shot, which should open things inside for Vaughn and take defensive pressure off Prince.
- Vaughn on taking and burying a nineteen-foot jumper: “It was one of the few times I was wide open.”
- Rutgers’ inside dominance was reflected in Saint Joseph’s taking 49 percent of their shots from three point range. The Hawks attempted 47 shots on the night, 23 (8 of 23 for 35 percent) from beyond the arc.
