 "Photo: Yuchen Nie")
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer knew what her team had to do last night to beat the Terrapin women's basketball team.
The defensive-minded Scarlet Knights perfectly executed their game plan by slowing down the faster-paced Terps, winning 68-60 in an up-and-down game to give the Terps their first loss of the season.
"They are playing the best basketball of any team in the country," Stringer said. "But as good as they are on offense, and they also are very good on defense - we really reigned supreme."
The Terps led by as many as 10 points at three different times, but were eventually worn down by the Scarlet Knights' relentless defensive pressure.
The Terps were held to 40.9 percent shooting, well below their season average of 50.1 percent going into last night.
"All the credit goes to Rutgers," coach Brenda Frese said. "They just had a tremendous game plan and really we just played into their hands."
Despite playing a slower-than-normal pace in the first half, the Terps were able to create some distance between themselves and the Scarlet Knights shortly before halftime.
Freshman guard Marah Strickland's layup and ensuing free throw capped a 10-0 run that gave the Terps their first double-digit lead of the game with 2:38 remaining in the first half.
The Terps led 33-23 at halftime.
"I thought we came out and played a really solid first 20 minutes," Frese said.
But the Scarlet Knights kept it close early in the second half, and when they turned up the pressure another notch, five missed field goals, two missed free throws and three turnovers by the Terps contributed to a 15-4 run by the Scarlet Knights.
The run gave Rutgers its first lead of the second half, 46-45, with 7:28 remaining, whipping the crowd at the Louis Brown Athletic Center into a frenzy.
"They just did a tremendous job taking us out of the things we wanted to run offensively, and they started making some big shots themselves," Frese said.
The Scarlet Knights slowly began to increase their lead, and the Terps never really recovered.
Terps junior guard Kristi Toliver became the 27th player in team history and third this season to score 1,000 career points, but her 15 points came on just 4-for-15 shooting, including 3-for-12 from three-point range.
While the Terps are now 4-1 against ranked opponents and 2-1 against teams ranked in the top 10, the Terps have yet to play their best on the road.
After two narrow wins during their West Coast trip during Thanksgiving weekend, the Terps may have been affected by an extremely boisterous crowd last night at Rutgers.
"Obviously, it's tough to play on the road, more so than at home," Toliver said. "Life on the road isn't easy, but it's a lesson that we'll learn, and we'll get tougher."
But after playing so well through their first ten games of the season, the Terps are not going to let a loss in the 11th keep them down for long.
"We have too much character in our locker room," Frese said. "I've been so proud to see the toughness we've displayed, and I know we'll bounce back."
schimmeldbk@gmail.com
Be the first to comment on this article!