VILLANOVA, Pa. - It's not often that a key moment in a basketball game comes when a team is up by nine points. But that was the case for the Rutgers women's basketball team last night.
With less than five minutes to go and the Scarlet Knights leading 43-34, freshman guard Matee Ajavon pushed the ball up-court by herself against three Villanova defenders.
She lost the handle and the ball went out of bounds.
Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer looked and shouted at Ajavon, and senior guard Cappie Pondexter then lowered her hands signaling for the Knights to end their "track sprints."
Soon after, senior center Rebecca Richman got a steal and handed it off to a streaking Pondexter who immediately stopped in her tracks and slowed the pace down.
Villanova's next possession made it seem as though the Wildcats were also recipients of Stringer's message. With time winding down on any chance of a Wildcats comeback, Rutgers' defense forced a shot-clock violation.
The ball - and control of the game - were handed back to the Knights.
RU confidently moved the ball around and used up 25 seconds of the game clock. After the possession's final pass, senior guard Nikki Jett took an open jump shot she didn't miss, and put RU's lead back into double-digits at 45-34, and secured the program's first-ever Big East title.
Home on the Road
With 1,411 Scarlet-clad fans in attendance, Rutgers fans made their presence felt at the Pavilion.
The Scarlet faithful who made the trip to Villanova started with a Rutgers fight song to greet the team onto the court. The fans finished by high-fiving the players and coaches as RU walked off the court with the Big East regular season title in hand.
"We were warming up and like, Rutgers people just kept walking in and walking in," junior forward Michelle Campbell said. "That's just a great feeling, you know, to know that people come on the road and support us. We didn't really have a lot of that last year. That's amazing.
"It made us feel just like we were at home."
Different Story
The Wildcats had taken four of their last six games with the Knights until last night.
In those six contests, the average margin of victory was a mere 4.3 points - with three games decided by just one point.
A Lack of Numbers
The Knights combated the Wildcats' free-throw strength by simply not allowing them to get to the line. Villanova - which shot 80 percent from the line over its last 11 games - only made four trips to the charity stripe last night, converting just two shots.
Rutgers also benefited from a cool-down in the Wildcats shooting beyond the arc. After going 4-10 in three-point field goals in the first half, 'Nova suffered through a 1-9 performance in the second half.
Lifting Drill
Campbell, Richman, and freshman forward Essence Carson combined to lift Stringer on their shoulders as Rutgers exited the court as Big East champions. Stringer held up her 'number one' finger and pumped her fists to the adoring crowd.
Richman Not Recognized?
To begin her post-game press conference, Stringer expressed her curiosity as to why the night's game-changing player wasn't also being interviewed.
"I have a question for you: Why didn't anybody ask to speak to Rebecca Richman?" Stringer asked. "The person that made the difference for this team was Rebecca Richman."
Chaney Support
Stringer's friend, Temple men's basketball head coach John Chaney, has been under national media scrutiny this week.
Chaney is suspended for three regular-season games, and the Atlantic-10 Tournament after sending in a "goon" to foul St. Joseph's players in a game last week. One foul broke the arm of the Hawks' John Bryant, causing him to miss the rest of his senior season.
"No one in this world will ever convince me that's he's anything other than a great gentleman, a great human being," Stringer said of Chaney. "He's one who I think has really been misunderstood and I think there has been a lot made of the situation.
"And I can't understand why, with a man who's done so much for [Philadelphia] as well as so many young men, that everyone is jumping up and down. I would love to know what St. Joe's response is, 'Because things happen.'"
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