(Guru's note: On Wednesday, yours truly will be at Villanova-Penn and Kathleen will be at St. Joe-Drexel. Pennsylvania editions in print Thursday are getting a page of local previews of the Big Five, Drexel, and a DII-DIII roundup)
By Mel Greenberg
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – To give some perspective of No. 3 Rutgers’ 83-35 victory over nearby New Jersey rival Princeton Tuesday night at the Louis A. Brown Athletic Center, one might say the Tigers were held to a scoring pace that represented a point for every minute it took to travel north to get here.
The scoring distribution reading down the Rutgers side of the box score is not indicative of the rout that began from the opening tip.
Epiphanny Prince had a game-high 15 points, Wilmington’s Khadijah Rush, recovered from last season’s knee injury, added 11 points, and Kia Vaughn scored 10. The Scarlet Knights (2-0) dominated the boards, however, 47-28.
Princeton (1-1) got 10 points from Whitney Downs and seven rebounds from Cheryl Stevens.
The win was the final of a two-game early tuneup heading into this week’s trip to Northern California in which Rutgers will visit No. 7 California, Friday, and No. 8 (formerly No. 2) Stanford on Sunday.
Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer was pleased with more things than displeased, putting here ahead of the pace she normally operates this early in the season.
Plenty of praise came from the other bench in Princeton coach Courtney Baghart, who is in her second season.
“Rutgers is a very good basketball team,” Banghart said. “They are as good on court as they are on paper. They have a very good blend of experienced kids who have all gotten better under coach Stringer as well as five highly touted and talented all-Americans.
“I think they are one of the best teams in college basketball,” she added while later noting the contract is signed for a 10 year series between the two.
Asked to compare this year’s brand with the Rutgers group a year ago that Princeton extended at home until late in the game, Banghart responded,”I think they are deeper. Their rookies add a ton of athleticism at more positions, and Kia Vaughn is better than she was. She spent a lot of time in the off season getting her body in shape. That’s definitely a better team than the one we played last year.
“You wouldn’t know it, though, but we’re better, too.”
Banghart still expected her team to give Rutgers some difficulty.
“I think we had stars in our eyes,” the former Dartmouth star said. “I thought we would be better competitors than that. We played today like we had stars in our eyes and wanted Rutgers’ autograph.
“I need to do a better job instilling poise and competiveness that champions take. And we’re not there yet.”
Rutgers now looks to play on a bigger stage in terms of the national spotlight the next two games and Stringer expects by the time her team returns here for practice Tuesday her players will have some idea about their identity.
Prince said this group of McDonalds freshman all-Americans: Nikki Speed, April Sykes, Brooklyn Pope, and Jasmine Dixon, is doing much better getting acclimated to Stringer’s system than when her group arrived and suffered through November and December two years ago before reversing gears and bolting straight to the NCAA title game.
“The freshman that came in now, they’re thinking different than when we did,” Prince explained.
“Before, we couldn’t get the concept so we would get frustrated with it, my freshman class, and we wouldn’t try to do what coach Stringer was teaching us. We would try to outscore everyone.
“But the freshmen this year, they actually want to get it, and if they don’t know, they’re asking questions and that’s the difference.”
--Mel
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