Turnovers haunt Rutgers women's basketball in road loss against Princeton
The Rutgers women's basketball team suffered a 66-55 loss to Princeton on Wednesday at the Jadwin Gymnasium in Princeton. The Scarlet Knights (6-7, 0-1) quickly fell behind and never seemed to gain any footing to stay in stride with the Tigers (8-3, 0-0).
Falling behind in the first half
Princeton jumped out to a 13-0 lead, and Rutgers did not get on the scoreboard until the 5:39 mark when graduate student center Kassondra Brown got a shot to bounce in off the rim.
The Knights found themselves down 22-10 to the Tigers when the first-quarter buzzer sounded.
Madison St. Rose scored 10 points and hit two three-pointers in the opening quarter for Princeton.
The Tigers opened up the second quarter on a 7-0 run, while Rutgers remained scoreless until the 4:40 mark when freshman guard Lisa Thompson finally got a shot to go through.
By the end of the first half, the Knights trailed Princeton 38-17. The Tigers went 14 for 30 from the field, while Rutgers failed to get many shots to fall. Princeton's stout defense held the Knights to just a 31.6 percent success rate from the field, making 6 of 19 shots.
The turnover bug hurts Rutgers
Rutgers had 11 giveaways in the opening quarter against the Tigers, which Princeton turned into 16 points. Most of the Knights' turnovers came during their opening possessions on offense.
"No matter who you play on the road, you can't come out and have five, six turnovers to start the game. (It's a) recipe for disaster," head coach Coquese Washington said after the game. "We just started off in a bad groove and never really got out of it until the fourth quarter."
Rutgers' turnovers decreased over the course of the game as it tried to play smarter. But, overall, the Knights turned over the ball 21 times, an increase from their 14 turnovers against conference foe Indiana last Sunday. The Tigers scored 26 points off Rutgers' turnovers.
"The turnovers kind of were deflating for us defensively," Washington said. "We turned the ball over and didn't then go back and have the requisite energy and effort on the defensive end because when you get back-to-back-to-back turnovers, it just kind of takes your momentum."
Washington hopes her squad can become more risk-averse and not force their passes when the Knights take on Virginia Tech this Sunday at 5:30 p.m. at Jersey Mike's Arena on Livingston campus. The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1 and 88.7 WRSU FM.
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