 "Photo: Eric R. Carter/Staff Photographer")
BC 60
Rutgers 71
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - For the second consecutive trip, the No. 8 Rutgers women's basketball team had to endure blizzard conditions en route to their game.
This time, though, the Scarlet Knights' shooting didn't go as cold as the temperature outside, and they were able to hold on for a 71-60 victory over No. 14 Boston College.
On the contrary, led by a performance by senior guard Cappie Pondexter that hasn't been seen yet this season, the Knights never trailed and led by as many as 13. In the end, Rutgers shot 44 percent from the field and turned the ball over only nine times.
"Cappie returned to a semblance of the Cappie of old," head coach C. Vivian Stringersaid. "Cappie knows how to win games and she just took over tonight."
Similar to their last game on Sunday at Notre Dame, the Knights jumped out to an early double-digit lead in the first half but let the opposing team climb back into the game in the second.
But there would be no 23-0 run against the Knights this time, as the Rutgers defense buckled down to slow down the Eagles and Pondexter started draining one shot after another, propelling the Knights to victory.
When all was said and done, Pondexter netted 27 points - 22 coming in the second half on 11 of 17 shooting to go along with four assists and only one turnover.
"I had some motivation," Pondexter said of her performance. "My class hadn't beaten BC, so we had to get this one."
Thanks two three-pointers by senior Nikki Jett and 10 points by freshman guard Matee Ajavon (13 points, six rebounds and four assists), RU jumped out to an early 15-2 lead in the first half.
The Knights shot the ball at a 43-percent clip and committed only four first half turnovers.
It was the defense, though, that led the way early on for RU. The Eagles shot only 29 percent in the first half and committed 10 turnovers.
But led by senior Jessalyn Deveny and her 10 first-half points, BC was able to cut the lead in the first to as little as five and trailed the Knights by only seven at the break.
Stringer also went with a bit of a larger line up for the game.
Instead of having 6-foot freshman guard Essence Carson start, she went with 6-foot-4-inch senior forward Rebecca Richman to try to counter the Eagles large frontcourt. Despite being outrebounded on the game by a count of 37-33, RU was able to outscore the Eagles in the paint, 28-16.
"Our post works very well together," junior forward Michelle Campbell said after scoring 10 points and pulling down six rebounds. "We're undersized so we doubled a lot and that helped us prevent them from getting points that they usually get."
BC came out of the locker room strong to begin the second stanza and cut the lead to only three points with 17:19 remaining.
With the game beginning to resemble the last Knights' game, Pondexter simply put the team on her shoulders and took over. She went on to score 20 of the team's next 23 points.
After their six-day road trip, the Knights will finally return home in preparation for their Sunday showdown with the West Virginia Mountaineers (11-6 on the season). The matchup at the Louis Brown Athletic Center is scheduled for a noon start time and will be the only game played between the two squads during the regular season.
"The Big East is going to be fun the next few months," Pondexter said. "The next few weeks are going to be very tough, but we're ready."
KNIGHT NOTES: With the win, head coach C. Vivian Stringer now has 709 victories in her career and has taken over sole possession of third place all-time in NCAA women's basketball victories ... After playing in front of 6,763 spectators at Notre Dame, the Knights played in front of a significantly smaller crowd this time around, as only 1,124 were in attendance for the game ... Senior guard Chelsea Newton played only 14 minutes due to an ankle injury, but Stringer said the senior guard will be fine.
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