Rutgers women’s basketball faced another stern test down Route 1 on Tuesday night against Princeton, and while the Scarlet Knights showed flashes of life early, the Tigers’ depth and firepower proved too
much in the end.
In what is becoming a concerning trend, Rutgers started the game with three straight turnovers and did not score for the first three and a half minutes before Kaylah Ivey drilled a three-pointer to get the Knights on the board. Both teams turned the ball over several times early as both teams looked to develop their offense for the contest.
Rutgers briefly took the lead with an Ivey step-back triple, but Princeton guard Skye Belker responded with a three-pointer of her own. Scoring guard Fadima Tall began to make her impact on the game, driving into the paint for an and-one, but Imani Lester used her size to score in the paint before Ivey nailed her third three-point shot of the opening quarter to bring the Knights within one. Princeton led 21-19 at the end of the first period.
The second quarter opened similarly, but the Tigers dominated at the rim, with Tall knocking down five free throws and fellow guard Ashley Chea knocking down a three. Princeton opened the lead to eight midway through the quarter, but the Knights cut the lead to 36-31, trailing by just five at the break.
Rutgers started the third quarter strong, with layups from Lester and star forward Nene Ndiaye cutting the deficit to just two points. However, Princeton responded with a run to push the lead back to eight and led by seven at the end of three quarters. The Knights’ offense looked flustered by the end of the period, unable to generate any offense and taking up most of the shot clock on back-to-back possessions.
The fourth quarter is where things really fell apart for Rutgers, with Perkins going down with an injury early in the quarter and not returning for the rest of the game. Chea made a pair of free throws and a three-pointer to spur a 7-0 run to open the period, which pushed the hosts to a 14-point lead.
Despite Ivey knocking down a couple more threes, Rutgers could not draw closer for the rest of the game, with Princeton’s depth and talent wearing them down. Although the Scarlet Knights continued to score, Princeton did as well, pushing their lead to a final margin of 18, taking down Rutgers for the fourth consecutive season.
After the offense was a complete no-show against the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Knights bounced back reasonably, hanging tough with their in-state foes for three quarters before Princeton ran away in the fourth quarter. Ndiaye led Rutgers with 20 points on 8-14 shooting and 2-3 from deep, while Ivey finished with 15 points on 5-12 shooting, all from downtown.
Despite coming off the bench, Lester had 14 points on 6-7 shooting in the paint to go with two free throws, while guard Faith Blackstone contributed eight points in her fifth game of the season. The rest of the team struggled mightily to score, with the other three starters scoring two points apiece.
For Princeton, Tall led the way with 28 points on 7-14 shooting, including 4-9 on threes and 10-11 at the line. Chea added 16 points, knocking down four of seven three-pointers, while Olivia Hutcherson added 16 points of her own on 6-9 shooting inside the arc. Madison St. Rose had 11 points while Toby Nweke added seven points to lead their bench scorers.
This matchup also highlighted some areas Rutgers will need to clean up moving forward — defensive consistency and the ability to close out quarters against a high-powered opponent like Princeton. The Tigers, now 10–1 on the season, continued to flex their dominance in this historic rivalry and have now defeated six schools from power conference schools, including two Big Ten schools. Their lone loss came on the road against #9 Maryland.
The Scarlet Knights drop to 7–4 on the season, and while the loss stings, the team can take positives from the bounce-back effort after getting shellacked by the Hawkeyes. Ndiaye and Ivey both had solid games, but the offensive droughts continued, while the team could not get much scoring outside of four of its players.
Rutgers will have an extended break in action before hosting Lafayette on Saturday, December 20th at 12 PM. After that, it’s on to Big Ten play, with the conference opener being at #25 Michigan State on December 28th.
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