Auburn outlasts Rutgers Women's Basketball in low-scoring defensive battle
Auburn, A.L. — Over the last 365 days, Rutgers Women’s Basketball had won a single game away from Jersey Mike’s Arena.
That streak will have to wait a little longer to be broken after Thursday.
The Scarlet Knights (4-2) picked themselves up to almost recover from a disastrous middle two quarters, but fell just short 51-46 after a valiant comeback attempt.
Neither team was at its best on Thursday, as points were hard to come by all night long. Rutgers shot just 14-for-48 (29 percent) from the floor, and 3-for-15 from three. Auburn was not much better, finishing 36 percent from the field and 1-for-11 from beyond the arc.
The Scarlet Knights fell behind by as many as 16 points during a brutal 13-minute scoring drought, where they missed 17 consecutive field goal attempts.
“We just weren’t able to put the ball in the basket,” head coach Coquese Washington told TKR and WRSU Sports after the game. “I think Auburn did a good job; they cranked up the defense. I thought we had some good opportunities, but we got out of a rhythm, had too many turnovers during that stretch as well.”
The final seconds
Zachara Perkins led all scorers with 15 points on the night – 11 coming in the first half – and Nene Ndiaye helped bring Rutgers back into the game with 10 of her 12 points coming in the second half.
Former Scarlet Knight Mya Petticord scored all 12 of her points in the final 20 minutes, including a driving layup in the final ten seconds with the Tigers up 49-44. Rutgers opted to play out the possession down three, looking for a stop with a seven-second difference between the shot clock and game clock.
“We knew we would get the ball back, so we wanted to get that stop, stop and score, and then we’d be in good shape,” Washington said on the decision not to foul. “I felt pretty good about our defense going up to that point that we could get that stop. The previous few possessions, we’ve gotten stops, so we felt pretty good about it.”
First-half offensive struggles
This iteration of the Tigers and Scarlet Knights facing off looked very different from the one in New Jersey two seasons ago, with both teams undertaking massive offensive runs in the first half.
Though Auburn did end the first half on a run – a 6-0 burst to take a 23-21 lead – it was a battle of attrition on the offensive end for both teams.
The first quarter kicked off a back-and-forth affair, with neither team leading by more than three points the entire way, and most of the time played within two points. Perkins gave the Scarlet Knights a 14-12 lead after springing free on a transition layup at the buzzer.
After a nearly four-minute scoreless stretch to open the second quarter, the Tigers turned around and put on the clamps defensively. They held Rutgers scoreless for nearly five consecutive minutes to close the half, taking the lead with just over 90 seconds remaining. Even then, Auburn’s offense was only able to squeak by, with the six points coming over a four-minute stretch.
Both teams ended the first half shooting 32 percent from the floor, and combined for 17 turnovers.
The drought
As mentioned previously, the Scarlet Knights struggled badly on offense to close the second quarter, but it went from bad to worse to start the third quarter.
Rutgers was held without a point for the first 8:41 of the third quarter, being held scoreless until Ndiaye converted on a layup with 1:39 left in the frame.
The Scarlet Knights had missed their previous 17 consecutive field goal attempts across the second- and third-quarter drought, and even then, the game remained competitive, as the Tigers were far from their best offensively in the game. They converted six of their 12 field goal attempts in the third quarter, and turned the ball over four times.
Once the offense got going, Rutgers suddenly found itself back in the game. Ndiaye got to the basket two more times in the quarter, and Lester hit two free throws to put the visitors on an 8-0 run and set Auburn back on its heels.
Thanks to the Tigers’ struggles offensively themselves – “only” scoring 16 points – the Scarlet Knights found themselves within double digits entering the fourth quarter.
Coming up short
Rutgers continued to battle in the final quarter, putting together another big run following a midrange jumper from Petticord, drawing to within three points after a 13-4 run that stretched almost five minutes of game time.
The two teams traded baskets from there, with the entire rest of the game being played within five points the rest of the way.
Rutgers continued to play solid defense and give itself another opportunity, but the offense could not formulate enough consistent buckets to take control and pull back ahead. The Scarlet Knights were held without a field goal for the final four minutes of the game.
“We talked about getting active on the defensive end,” Washington said on the turnaround to get back into the game. “We talked about being a little bit smarter, we made a few adjustments and tweaks offensively, we got some better shots. I thought we did a better job taking care of the ball during that stretch.”
Despite the near-comeback attempt, Rutgers finds itself with its second loss of the year on the opening road trip.
“You’ve got to have that kind of effort for a longer stretch during the game,” Washington added. “I thought it shows what we’re capable of, especially on the defensive end. We’ve got to put a longer string of the game together, when we’re playing at that pace.”
Up next
The Scarlet Knights will return home on Monday, and will host Siena at Jersey Mike’s Arena.
That game will tip off at 7 pm in Piscataway, and will be streamed on Big Ten Plus.
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