Rutgers Women's Basketball rolls Northeastern on Black Friday
The day after Thanksgiving, any tryptophan in the turkey seemed to wear off for Rutgers Women’s Basketball.
As part of a two-game weekend, the Scarlet Knights (5-2) comfortably defeated Northeastern 79-56, off the back of a strong defensive performance and solid shooting.
Rutgers had four scorers in double-figures, led once again by Nene Ndiaye’s 19 points and 10 rebounds. Imani Lester produced in relatively limited minutes, scoring 16 points and grabbing seven rebounds in 16 minutes. Faith Blackstone and Zachara Perkins both scored in double figures as well, with 13 and 11 points respectively.
Blackstone continued her upward trajectory in her second game of the year, the first fully in the rotation.
“Faith is somebody who can score,” head coach Coquese Washington said after the game. “This is her sixth year of college basketball. She understands the game; her skill set complements the rest of the team. So we know we’re excited to have her back in the fold and game by game, she’ll adjust and adapt, and our chemistry can continue to develop.”
The Scarlet Knights were able to take control early, and never looked back in a wire-to-wire victory for its first dominant victory in almost a month.
Defensive shutdown
Rutgers was able to get out to a big early lead – opening the game on a 9-2 run – and then extended it thanks to a strong defensive performance.
In the opening quarter, the Scarlet Knights forced seven turnovers and held Northeastern to a 4-for-14 (29 percent) mark from field.
That momentum continued into the second quarter, though the Huskies did manage to find some momentum from the three-point line, though Rutgers was still able to largely shut down Northeastern’s game at the rim, holding the opposition to well under a point per possession in the game and a 50 percent mark on layups.
Against an opponent the Scarlet Knights held a big-time size advantage over, they needed to use it well, both at the rim and on the perimeter. They were able to contain the rim pressure and forced turnovers to get in transition, helping set up the rest of the offense.
“I thought we came out with a lot of intensity, especially on the defensive end,” said Washington. “We wanted to get the ball inside early, and we were able to do that in the first quarter, and get a lead. And then we talked about at halftime, coming out in the second half, and really continuing and elevating our defensive intensity. We were able to do that and extend the lead.”
Strong shooting
Rutgers had its best offensive performance of the season, tying for its most points of the year, and averaging 1.2 points per possession. That was to be expected against the Huskies’ 313th-best defensive efficiency according to Torvik’s metrics, but it was the perimeter game that proved to be a pleasant surprise.
The Scarlet Knights tied a season high with seven three-pointers on solid efficiency (39 percent for the game). In the third quarter, especially, Rutgers was able to open the game up and take over from the perimeter by knocking down three-pointers, helping exorcise some of the scoring issues that plagued the Scarlet Knights in the previous two games.
Production came from all over from three, as Ndiaye and Perkins both knocked down multiple triples, and Antonia Bates did so as well.
Even more encouraging, Rutgers was able to keep up its sterling improvements from the free-throw line. The Scarlet Knights finished with a 20-for-26 mark from the charity stripe, a season-best in terms of efficiency, including ten straight in the first half. Washington mentioned earlier in the season Rutgers was leaving far too many points on the floor, both at the rim and from the free-throw line, but in recent games the Scarlet Knights have bucked that trend for the better.
Over the recent years, one of the team’s downfalls in Big Ten play was not being able to take the easy points at the line when the half-court offense would dry up. At least in the recent weeks, that issue has begun to fix itself.
“Something that we kind of want to be good at is being aggressive, and being physical, and being able to play through contact,” Washington added. “We’ve been working on our free throws, and early in the season, sometimes it was adventuresome when we got to the free throw line, but we’ve been working on that, and felt pretty good about when we get to the line that we can convert.”
Lester in particular shone from the charity stripe, hitting all six attempts after drawing fouls at the basket.
“I think when we focus on moving the ball and trying to get into the paint, being aggressive and attacking, we’re a really good team,” she said. “We realize that we can draw fouls, like, three of us drew four fouls today. So just when we’re aggressive, when we attack the basket, we know that we’re going to score and we’re going to get to the line, and we’re going to see the ball going in the basket. Then that’s going to help us make shots.”
A big win
For the first time since the very beginning of the year, Rutgers was able to notch a big-time victory in terms of margin, winning by over 11 points for the first time since the November 3rd season-opening win over Wagner.
The Scarlet Knights were able to take over early, and while Northeastern was able to make shots sporadically to at least keep the score respectable, the game never truly felt in doubt, with Rutgers in the lead the entire way.
A big reason for the major momentum shift throughout the game was thanks to its ability to turn defense into offense. The Scarlet Knights outscored the Huskies 22-6 in points off turnovers, and won the transition battle 18-2.
The wide margin also allowed Washington to give some of her younger and more inexperienced players more run on the floor, with both freshmen PreciousGem Wheeler and Makylah Moore logging season-high minutes.
“I feel like my teammates push me every day in practice, especially Imani,” Wheeler said with a laugh. “I look up to them a lot. It’s just the motivation, knowing that everything happens for a reason, and knowing that my time will come. So I’ve just been trying to work every day.”
Getting a comfortable win — even against a weaker opponent — goes a long way to gaining confidence for the team’s depth pieces, as well as getting some — such as Blackstone — even more acclimated to game action.
Up next
Rutgers Women’s Basketball heads back out just two days later this weekend, as the Scarlet Knights will host Saint Peter’s at Jersey Mike’s Arena on Sunday afternoon.
That game will tip off at 3 pm and will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
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