Rutgers women's basketball looks to bounce back at home against FDU, Wagner
The Rutgers women’s basketball team is back in action for two games at Jersey Mike’s arena on Livingston campus this week, against FDU and Wagner. Last time out, the Scarlet Knights (5-4,0-1) were just seconds away from pulling off an upset in their first Big Ten game against Wisconsin.
It has been an up-and-down season for the Scarlet Knights, who have found themselves on the wrong end of hard-fought games. Rutgers has seen a lot of production from senior forward Destiny Adams and freshman guard Kiyomi McMiller.
Other than that, the rest of the supporting cast has not had much of an impact and is something that needs to improve. The Scarlet Knights have three games remaining before a gauntlet of tough conference opponents.
The Knights (7-2, 0-0) are first up for Rutgers and will be no easy task as they have won four games on the road this season and have won seven games overall. Ava Renninger is a name to watch out for in the burgundy and blue, leading her team in scoring with approximately 15 points per game.
Height is not much of a factor in FDU's play, with only three players standing at 6-feet-tall or larger. The Scarlet Knights could take advantage of this in the low-post game, which has worked well for them all season. Adams is known for her ability to overpower smaller defenders and draw contact, which could be a main game plan going into the game.
Players like junior guard and forward Antonia Bates, graduate student forward JoJo Lacey and junior guard Mya Petticord have an opportunity to find their offensive rhythm before conference play begins. Lacey is averaging approximately 8 points per game and is a player that many Rutgers fans thought could be a good complementary scorer to the duo of Adams and McMiller.
The Seahawks (1-7, 0-0) have not had the start to the season that they would have hoped for, managing just one win against a D3 program in Saint Elizabeth. Despite a tumultuous start to the season, Julia Fabozzi has been a breakout star for her team. Fabozzi averages 12.8 points per game and 6.2 rebounds per game, leading Wagner in both categories.
The Scarlet Knights have a prime opportunity to work out some of the kinks in their game in the next two matchups. Overall Rutgers has shown that it has the ability to hang with some of the better teams in women’s basketball but all of the aspects of their game must come together to be successful this season.
With the addition of Oregon, USC, Washington and UCLA, there has been a lot of talent added to the Big Ten. This makes the Scarlet Knight’s path to success this season just that much more difficult. Everyone needs to step up and play beyond the way they have so far this year in order to compete with some of the top teams in the nation
Wednesday’s tip against the Knights is scheduled for 7 p.m. and Sunday’s tip against the Seahawks is scheduled for 2 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus and on 88.7 WRSU-FM.
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