By Mel Greenberg and Stephen K. Lee
PHILADELPHIA _ What used to be a fun rivalry when both schools were in the Atlantic Ten gets renewed as a nonconference matchup Wednesday for the first time since Nov. 2001 when Big East and national power Rutgers travels to Hawk Hill to meet St.Joseph's at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.
The visit by the No. 5 Scarlet Knights (3-1) offers the only area homecoming opportunities this season for 6-foot-4 sophomore center Rashidat Junaid, a graduate of nearby Camden Catholic, and freshman guard Khadijah Rushdan of Wilmington, Del., who holds the state all-time high school career scoring record at 2,414 points.
Temple, in another A-10/Big East matchup, will travel to Rutgers, Dec. 30, and Villanova plays the Scarlet Knights just once in the Big East, also in Piscataway, N.J.
It's also another return for Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer, the Women's Basketball Hall of Famer, who established herself as one of the top mentors in the game in the late 1970s when she coached at Cheyney.
She later moved on to Iowa, establishing the Hawkeyes as a nationally-ranked program, before rebuilding Rutgers to prominence when she moved back East in the summer of 1995.
Stringer has taken all three programs to the Women's Final Four, most recently a return for the Scarlet Knights last April when they advanced to the national title game.
Wednesday's game would have Rutgers as a lopsided favorite. St. Joseph's is off to a 3-1 start, which is promising, but the Hawks are still trying to get more answers about themselves.
However, external factors exist that cause somewhat of a concern, as they would any coach guiding Rutgers through its killer schedule because the visit here is sandwiched between Sunday's gritty 45-43 win over then-No. 6 LSU and next Monday night's matchup at home against No. 3 Maryland.
And so the phrase "trap game" was being used after Rutgers' practice Tuesday in anticipation of the meeting with the Hawks.
"You always have to worry about that," Stringer said. "Because they are unranked and they are good and we gotta come to play and not look past that, wishing that we didn't play this type of team.And to be honest with you, it probably takesme a lot more work to play and unranked, so to speak, team.
"They're very well-coached. They execute well and we've got to be on high alert."
Junior center Kia Vaughn, who has picked up added acclaim since her defensive work on LSU all-American Sylvia Fowles, Sunday, besides the same denial she tossed at Fowles in last season's national semifinals, spoke of the the mindset needed against the Hawks.
"These are, I think, mental games because we have to stay focused and we have to learn how to keep our energy level high rather than come down to the level of our opponents," Vaughn said.
"We just have to be ourselves and work on things within those things because those teams are not going to step off. They're going to come at us hard and we have to understand and play the game of basketball."
St. Joseph's, similarly to Rutgers style, is a team that lives off its defense. But offense has been more of a concern, especially when the Hawks, in their one loss, went cold in the final minutes against Virginia Commonwealth.
Freshman center Sarah Acker has lived up to her promise to date, but Rutgers and the inside strength of Vaughn and Junaid, who may see more action together Wednesday night, will be Acker's first major test.
Injuries of sorts exist on both teams. Essence Carson, still expected to start for Rutgers, might be limited due a left hip flexor injury suffered prior to Sunday's game.
Hawks sophomore Brittany Ford, the force in St. Joseph's upset of George Washington and run to the Atlantic 10 title game in March, continues to be sidelined after minor knee surgery.
Rushdan was also limited in the preseason with a minor injury but could see more time on Hawk Hill, as Stringer looks to find some additional firepower for the many wars ahead.
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Unmaking memories
Stringer has good reason for caution as Philadelphia has been a place with as many unpleasant memories in competition as pleasant ones developed off the court in a large array of friendships, particularly with former Temple men's coach John Chaney. She coached with the Hall of Famer in the 1970s when both were at Cheyney.
(Note to Rutgers team spokeswoman Stacey Brann from the Guru: Keep the following grafs away from her until after the game because she knows I'm the only one who could bring this stuff up and it could endager my long friendship with her. That's an inside joke for the rest you readers).
There have been more than a few occasions out on the Main Line when Villanova patiently slowed Rutgers into oblivion in Big East confrontations.
In recent seasons, the young Dawn Staley, who Stringer helped coach in the 2004 Olympics, has coached Temple into upsets of the Scarlet Knights.
Hate to bring that Tennessee name up again, but there was the 2000 national semifinals loss to the Lady Vols at the Wachovia Center, and another one to Pat Summitt's Orange Crush in the Philadelphia Regional final in 2005.
For that matter, Stringer's two visits to St. Joe's in Nov. 2001 and and early December, 1997, resulted in losses.
Stringer, one Tuesday, recalled the 64-58 loss of 2001 two years removed from the 2000 Final Four.
The Rutgers coach noted she rarely comes out on the floor before a game but had done so for one reason or another prior to that Hawks encounter.
"I happened to look out on the floor and instead of us really stretching in the way we should and the way that we had, I saw us kind of throwing a leg up, throwing an arm over," Stringer said.
"And I watched St.Joe's really focusing on what they wanted to do. So I just said to one of my assistants, `We're setting ourselves up for the fall. We're getting ready to mess this thing up.' And sure enough ...
"Long story, short story, they beat us. It was so sad. Tasha remembers. It shouldn't come close in that case."
That game was also the second for current Hawk coach and former backcourt star Cindy Griffin.
According to statistical notes of that game that Hawks spokesman Jack Jumper provided us,
Dawn McCullough and Davalyn Cunningham each scored 14 points, while Mauri Horton had 12 points, six rebounds, and dealt five assists.
The Scarlet Knights committed 16 turnovers, and was outrebounded by the Hawks, 38-31.
St. Joseph's all-time scorer and current assistant coach Sue Moran dominated with 34 points, shooting 12-for-24 from the field.
The previous loss to St. Joseph's, here, was on Dec. 21, 1997, by the score of 67-54, Rutgers shot 21-of-58 from the floor for a 36.2 percentage, 3-of-13 from behind the arc, and had 22 turnovers, while making 9 of 11 foul shots and grabbing 32 rebounds.
Current assistant coach Tasha Pointer ran the backcourt on a team that became the foundation of the 2000 Final Four contingent.
In the game, Pointer had 17 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, and committed seven turnovers. Linda Miles, off the bench, had 16 points, 9 rebounds. The rest of the subs combined for 3-of-12, including two points from Philly local star Shawnetta Stewart and one point from center Tammy Sutton-Brown, who shot 0-for-3 against the Hawks. She later went on to become a WNBA All-Star. Other subs were Jen Clemente and Coko Eggleston.
St. Joseph's prevailed by shooting 12 of 18 in the second half, including 7 of 19 from three-point range, paced by Angela Zampella's 20 points and five assists.
St.Joseph's next heads to Brown's tournament on Saturday to play Manhattan in Providence, R.I. On Sunday, the Hawks will meet either Brown or Howard.
Meanwhile, circumstances are strengthening St. Joseph's nonconference schedule.
Next weekend, the Hawks head to Iowa's tournament and meet WNIT postseason champion Wyoming, which just earned its first-ever national ranking. Later next month in the annual holiday tournament, Auburn will be in the field. The Tigers recently returned to the rankings after an absence and upset Ohio State last weekend in Columbus.
-- Stephen K. Lee reported this story from Rutgers.
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