Rutgers women's hoops defeats Minnesota at home, notch second Big Ten win
For one of the first times all season in conference play, the Rutgers women's basketball team rained down threes to help spark its offensive attack. It worked like a charm, leading the Scarlet Knights (8-19, 2-12) to an 81-73 victory over Minnesota. Rutgers was able to play spoiler against the Golden Gophers (14-10, 4-9), who needed to play their best to remain in the NCAA Tournament picture.
The winning effort was led by the program's two transfers, as Mya Petticord and Destiny Adams each led the scoring with 25 and 21 points, respectively. Petticord's breakout performance was the finest of her young Rutgers career, as she notched season highs in several categories, including playing all 40 minutes of the game. Petticord came alive coming out of the locker room in the second half, scoring 23 points in the half and 17 in the fourth quarter alone.
"It makes a big difference," head coach Coquese Washington said of the improved perimeter attack. "When we can have these two, and Jill and Antonia come out and knock some three-pointers, that opens up some things for us."
Similar to most games this year, the Scarlet Knights got off to a slow start offensively and trailed 18-8 after the opening ten minutes. It was a sloppy first-quarter effort by both teams, as they combined to turn the ball over 18 times. Despite the trouble holding onto the ball, Minnesota's 54% clip from the floor - compared to Rutgers' 15% - propelled them to a big lead.
However, different than most games, the Scarlet Knights were able to respond and take over down the stretch. The second quarter was much more balanced, on both sides of the floor. Rutgers went into the locker room tied after a strong effort shooting 50% from the floor and only committing one turnover.
Despite a lackluster offensive output in the first half, the offensive sprung to life in the second. The three-pointers finally fell at a consistent clip, as the Scarlet Knights shot a scorching 78% from beyond the arc in the second half, including a perfect 4-4 from Petticord.
Washington attributed the improved offensive effort to the team settling into the game after the opening minutes.
"I think this is a team that, so often we have to feel our way through," she said. "Sometimes early in the games, the start of games, we're kind of swinging for the fences, and then we kind of settle down. We just take bunts and singles, and that seems to work a little better for us."
The Scarlet Knights' second-half output was one of the best offensive halves of the season, part of arguably the best offensive game of the year.
Will Rutgers shoot north of 75% from three-point land in their next game? Probably not, but the confidence and versatility of the offense can take a major boost from a performance like tonight. Even if a run at the postseason is out of the picture, many of the team's contributors will be back next year, given the youth and inexperience this group had coming in.
That includes Adams, who Washington commended for her efforts playing within the offense throughout the game.
"I thought she was patient," she said. "They did a really good job in the first half of not letting her get touches in her sweet spots. She didn't force it, she did a good job of passing out of double teams. I think she did a really good job of adjusting her game and got out into transition and got baskets that way, and got to the free throw line."
Another strength of Adams' performance was the way she was able to manage her efforts on both ends of the floor, even if her offensive game was not jumping off the page.
She didn't get caught up in 'I'm not getting a lot of touches early', so she went to work on the defensive end, she went to work getting steals in the press," Washington said. All those things kind of helped loosen up the paint for her, and she was able to get some stuff going in the second half."
In addition to the success from behind the three-point line, Rutgers was tremendous from the free throw line. As a team, they made 26 of their 28 attempts and were able to keep their lead thanks to their efforts at the line particularly in the third quarter, where both teams combined to be whistled for a whopping 17 personal fouls. Much like the rest of the offense, Petticord and Adams led the way in getting to the charity stripe. Adams was a perfect 9-for-9, while Petticord had just one blemish going 9-for-10 to boost the scoring.
The Scarlet Knights, off their second win in four games after a 12-game losing streak, have another winnable matchup on Saturday as they host Wisconsin in the annual Play4Kay game. The Scarlet Knights played the Badgers tough in Madison two weeks ago, almost completing a fourth-quarter comeback. Despite a rough start to the Big Ten campaign, Rutgers has the chance to settle in and pick up some wins to gain confidence for next season. The game will tip-off at 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus.
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