Owls might be nocturnal creatures but even they appeared to tire too early Monday "knight."
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights, coming off two gaping losses in the Bay Area over a week ago, powered up in the second half of a 64-60 win over the Temple Owls. The game was the one victory RU was able to salvage on a blistering road trip that saw the Knights trail in five of six halves.
"I think we wanted to come out better tonight," says center Kia Vaughn. "We know though that we still have a lot to work on."
Knight fans who traveled with the team to Temple's Liacouras Center in Philadelphia grew worried when the team fell behind by as many as 15 points in the first half. Both teams shot poorly in the first 20 minutes, yet Rutgers' field goal percentage of 31 translated to only nine shots going in. They also committed 7 personal fouls in the first half to Temple's two.
When the second period began however, a badly needed reversal of fortunes took place for the Knights. They embarked on an 8-0 run and later tied the game before taking over for good. Rutgers took more inside shots, courtesy of driving to the rim more often. They outscored Temple 43-28 in the second half to earn the final tally of 64-60.
Asked about the turning point in the game, guard Epiphany Prince said, "in the second half, when we stopped shooting from the outside, and started attacking them." Prince was the game high scorer with 25 points. A big part of it - knocking down 13-of-14 from the free throw line.
"We needed to score with the clock stopped," says Vaughn about the importance of the free throws in Monday's contest. "We were down. "We also needed to attack more and stop being so relaxed."
Vaughn and guard Brittany Ray both scored 10 each, and Vaughn came away with 8 rebounds, the most of anyone on the night.
The comeback victory though was not enough to sweeten the bitter taste of a 66-52 loss at Cal on November 21, and an 81-47 shell-shocking at the hands of the Stanford Cardinal two days later.
Both are top ten powerhouses, but so typically is Rutgers, and Coach C. Vivian Stringer says much work remains.
"In order for us to go forward, we have to be a lot more solid in what we're doing," says Stringer. "We were very limited in what we could do, and we've all been held up while still having this great competition. We've got five freshmen who don't have a clue what's going on...sometimes they don't know their name. Without building the foundation, we tried to bluff our way into the games...Stanford and Cal. It showed. We had two relatively easy games earlier." Rutgers played host to both St. Joseph's and Princeton, and defeated each soundly.
On the team's first road win of the 2008-09 season, Stringer claims, "we didn't do as well as I would have liked. Temple came at us well."
For the Owls, forward Shanea Cotton led the scoring with 18. Forward Senita Landry scored 12, and collected nine rebounds.
Temple now gets set to take on Dartmouth at home on Wednesday.
Rutgers returns home as well. They will face the Georgia Bulldogs in the Jimmy V Classic on December 8.
From thence will come another chance for a knightly Monday.
