Rutgers women's basketball set back by first half struggles in loss to Purdue
The Rutgers women’s basketball team couldn’t find a way to escape the hole it created for itself in the first half of a 68-54 loss to Purdue. The Scarlet Knights (10-15, 4-9) trailed the Boilermakers (16-7, 7-6) for the majority of yesterday evening's game.
The first quarter wasn’t pretty for Rutgers. After freshman guard Kaylene Smikle hit a successful layup to open up the contest, Purdue took over in the first period of play. With 1:03 to go in the first quarter, the Boilermakers led 18-3. The Knights were able to get back 4 more points before heading into the second quarter.
Rutgers showed improvement in the second quarter, though, and were able to lessen the gap to 9 points after a three-pointer from freshman guard Antonia Bates. Purdue ultimately sustained its first-half dominance and led 36-23 when the second-quarter buzzer sounded.
The Boilermakers seemed to have taken over the game after a long-distance shot by Cassidy Hardin put her team up 47-25. Bates answered with a triple of her own. Her shot decreased the Knights' deficit to 19 points but sparked a comeback attempt. Rutgers then went on a 12-4 run that included a scoring streak of 9 straight points to close out the third quarter.
Down by 11 heading into the fourth quarter, the Knights saw a chance to sneak their way back up the scoreboard and were down by 9 points once again after a two-point bucket from senior guard Awa Sidibe.
Lasha Petree, a former guard for Rutgers, put a pin in a potential Knights fourth-quarter takeover with a successful shot from beyond the arc. Hardin put the game away after hitting her second three-pointer of the quarter to make the score 64-46 in favor of Purdue.
By the end of the game, Rutgers found itself down by 14 points for its 15th loss of the season, as the final score was 68-54.
Sidibe scored a team-high of 16 points and corralled in three rebounds while dishing out two assists. Senior guard Kai Carter scored 9 points and added three rebounds and four assists. Junior forward Chyna Cornwell also scored 9 points and added 8 rebounds to her stat sheet.
On the other side, Petree led her team in points with 17 while Hardin scored 12 points. The two combined for 7 successful three-pointers with some of them coming at critical moments throughout the game.
In her post-game press conference, head coach Coquese Washington said that though it was hard to find a positive from her squad in tonight’s game, she believes that they have been and can be better with their communication, rebounding and sharing the ball in past games.
"Progress doesn’t obviously go in a straight line. Sometimes you take three steps forward and one step backward," Washington said.
She said that she hopes the team can show improvements in its last five games of the regular season.
"There’s a lot of individual things that the players will get better at, but being able to be consistent with our strategies and our techniques and the game plan we go into the game with," Washington said. “So, it’s not one thing or two things. It’s really just our overall growth as a team in terms of playing together and executing and communicating and moving as one unit. That’s what I want to see us get better at."
The Knights will play in a road match against Caitlin Clark and Iowa at the Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday. The game will tip-off at 3 p.m. and will be broadcasted on Fox Sports 1 as well as 88.7 WRSU-FM.
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