The Rutgers University women’s basketball team showed why there’s so much optimism surrounding the program with its 86-59 season-opening victory over St. Joseph’s University on Friday evening.
JEFF GRANIT staff Above: Rutgers’ Epiphanny Prince goes up for a shot against St. Joseph’s during her team’s 86-59 win on Nov. 14. Left: Heather Zurich goes to the basket against Ashley Logue during the game. Junior guard Epiphanny Prince led the way with 26 points and seven steals as the Scarlet Knights broke the game open midway through the first half with a 14-0 run over a four-minute span, highlighted by six points from Brittany Ray to give Rutgers a 23-7 advantage.
“We’re a very flexible team, and I was pleased with our effort tonight,” Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer said. “It helps that we have 12 very capable players on our roster. It’s been a long time since we’ve had such depth around here.”
Part of the depth Stringer refers to includes five true freshmen on the roster, including 6-foot-2 freshman Brooklyn Pope, who chipped in with 10 points and eight rebounds in just 10 minutes of play off the bench. In the end, the reserves totaled 32 points, something that may become a common theme as the season wears on.
“Our freshmen especially were energetic tonight, and it helped,” said senior Heather Zurich. “If we get tired, we know that our bench players are ready. We’re definitely a deep team.”
Stringer noted that while the freshmen did well in their first collegiate game, they still need to learn plenty more.
“They are competitive, but I know one thing: they play a lot better than they practice at this point,” Stringer said. “We’ve been spending a lot of time on the basics right now in practice. When you have so many young people, that’s what needs to be done.”
The team played Princeton Tuesday night and will head out west this weekend for games against Cal and Stanford, both ranked in the top 10 teams in the nation.
As for the men’s team, the consensus is that they should be much better than a season ago, when they finished 11-20 overall and 3-15 in the Big East. In the team’s first game of the 2008-09 campaign, against Marist on Friday night, it looked like the Scarlet Knights were headed down a familiar path.
After struggling throughout the first half, Rutgers took a 48-38 advantage midway through the second half. Slowly, Marist crept back into the game and cut the Scarlet Knights’ lead to just one with less than three minutes left before some clutch play and solid defense made the difference in the team’s 63-61 win.
Freshman sensations Mike Rosario and Gregory Echenique, both of whom drew the loudest ovations during the introduction of the starting lineups from the nearly 5,000 in attendance, tallied 17 and 11 points, respectively, in the win.
“We took a lot of fast shots in the first half and we had to slow things down as the game went on,” Rosario said. “We have trust in each other, and it all worked out tonight.”
Echenique also grabbed 11 rebounds and had six blocks. Speaking of defense, he and Hamady N’Diaye combined for 14 of the team’s 16 blocks.
“Greg and I really do have the same mentality, especially when it comes to playing defense,” N’Diaye said. “I find nothing better than blocking a shot.”
Head coach Fred Hill said he came away from the contest happy that his team pulled out the victory.
“Defensively, we were ready for Marist. We held them to 25 percent [field goal] shooting in the first half,” Hill said. “I think our guys did a good job of executing in the big spots, especially in the second half.”
Two days later, Rosario and N’Diaye picked up right where they left off against Delaware in an 85-77 victory. N’Diaye scored a career-high 26 points on 11-14 shooting from the floor while Rosario scored 17 points once again. The team faces Robert Morris on Friday followed by St. Bonaventure on Sunday afternoon.