Through the first 17 games of the season, the No. 8 Rutgers women's basketball team has yet to drop back-to-back contests.
But coming off their second-half disappearing act against Notre Dame this past Sunday, the Scarlet Knights (13-4, 4-1) will have to elevate their game as they travel to take on No. 14 Boston College at the Conte Forum tonight, if they want to continue their streak.
"We've got another big game coming up," senior Rebecca Richman said following the 63-47 loss to the Fighting Irish. "We have to regroup and get better."
Winners of eight of their last 10 matchups, the Knights came out strong and jumped all over the Irish on their way to building an 11-point halftime lead. Led by senior guards Cappie Pondexter's 17 points and Chelsea Newton's 18 points, RU shot 47-percent from the field in the first.
"We played good defense and did what the coaches wanted us to did offensively in the first," Newton said. "In the second, our defense was horrible and we had too many turnovers."
All fell apart for Rutgers in the second half, though, as ND went on a 23-0 run and held the Knights without a field goal for over six minutes of play. Looking worn down as the game went on, the Fighting Irish continually fed the ball down low to forward Jacqueline Batteast, who ended the game with 27 points.
The Knights shot the ball only 17 percent from the field in the second half and only 1-of-12 from beyond the three-point arc.
Rutgers, however, can place most of the blame for the loss on sloppy play. The Knights uncharacteristically turned the ball over 21 times and went to the line only five times, making only four shots.
That astronomical low number of free throws attempted by the Knights was magnified by the fact that Notre Dame went 19-for-22 (.864) from the line - a deficit that Rutgers simply couldn't make up.
"We rebounded decently, but turnovers were extremely high," Stringer said. "We just had too many unforced errors."
The last time the Knights and the Eagles met was in last year's Big East Tournament title game. BC earned a 75-57 victory over an injury-riddled Rutgers squad that was forced to suit up two student managers for the contest.
The Knights stand at 190-68 all-time against the Eagles, but has lost five consecutive contests at the Conte Forum.
Boston College will enter the game at 14-2 and in first place in the Big East with a conference record of 5-0. BC has won two straight after dropping a contest to Stanford last weekend.
The Eagles are led by senior Jessalyn Deveny, who is tallying 18.1 points per game, and sophomore forward Kathrin Ress, who is averaging 12.3 per contest.
BC is coming off a dominant 92-47 win over Providence. The Eagles held the Friars to 29-percent shooting in the first half and didn't allow them to score over the final 12:50 of the game.
Ress hit 8-of-11 shots from the field to finish with 19 points, to go along with five rebounds. Junior forward Brooke Queenan also put forth a strong performance, contributing 13 points in 21 minutes of play.
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