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The emotional rollercoaster that the Rutgers women's basketball team's season has been riding is rising once again.
After seeing their season take a major dive due to a loss to West Virginia last week, the Scarlet Knights once again rebounded and put together an outstanding effort against Notre Dame this past Saturday to keep the team's NCAA aspirations alive. With a 17-10 overall record (9-6 in the Big East) and currently holding a seventh-place spot in the conference, the Knights will take on Seton Hall at 7:30 p.m.
"We were one of the teams on the bubble, and the win [against Notre Dame] puts us in a very good position," junior guard Cappie Pondexter said, referring to the team's postseason aspirations. "We have to finish strong in our last game of the regular season before going into the Big East Championship."
Playing against a difficult Irish team, the Knights got back to the basics and played an-all around team game. Pondexter - who scored 20 points and eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau for her career - led the team in points, but got help from sophomore forward Michelle Campbell, who registered 16 points, and junior guard Chelsea Newton, who scored 11 points.
"Campbell did a great job on the post people on both ends of the court," Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer said, referring to Campbell's performance.
Campbell - who registered nine rebounds to go along with her 16 points - has registered double-digits for the second consecutive game.
"We played extremely well together [against Notre Dame] and just wanted to get back to the small things," Pondexter said. "We played the way we are capable of playing, and [we] must continue that play."
Only leading by three coming out of the locker room after halftime, 27-24, the Knights went on a tear, scorching the net by shooting 72.7 percent from the field in the second stanza.
The Knights went on a 21-6 run over the first nine minutes of the second and never looked back from that point. Led by junior guard Nikki Jett - who scored all of her seven points during the stretch - RU took its largest lead of the night leading 55-38, with seven minutes remaining. From that point on, Rutgers coasted to an easy 69-55 victory.
The Knights' final opponent for the regular season is Seton Hall. The Pirates will enter the contest with a record of 14-12 and 6-9 in Big East play. The Pirates, who are currently riding a four-game losing streak, will come in strong, trying to secure the ninth seed in the Big East tournament.
The Pirates' last game against St. John's was a decision that they dropped, 61-52. Despite the fairly close score, the game was never within reach for the Pirates. Seton Hall never led against the Red Storm and trailed by as many as 16 at one time.
Junior guard Ashley Bush led the team with 15 points the team's last time out and is currently first on the team in scoring- with 10.6 points - and second in rebounding with six per game. Bush is the only individual that is averaging double-figures for her team, but she has some help with six players averaging over five points per contest.
For the Knights, they will more than likely end up with the sixth seed in the Big East Tournament if they can come away with the win tonight against the Pirates and position themselves well for this weekend.
Now that all of the calculations are being done, there is only one thing left that the Knights must do. Rutgers must continue this crazy ride and continue to go upward, because a loss to Seton Hall could be the last major drop that would put the Knights out of the NCAA Tournament.
"We have to play our best basketball now," Pondexter said. "We just have to do everything we can and see what happens."
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