An incredibly disappointing loss for the Nova women, bouncing back nicely from the drubbing earlier in the week at UConn to control this game nearly the whole way, but fading badly at the end. Nova completely stymied the Rutgers offense the entire first half, limiting them to five made baskets and taking a 24-17 lead at the half. It could have been much more, but at least five possessions came up empty on unforced turnovers. Laura Sweeney and Rachel Roberts led the first half scoring with 7 apiece and Lauren Burford hit two threes with the team hitting 5 of 9 in the half. Nova handled the press well and overcame some really bad officiating in the half.
Rutgers got their legs early in the second half scoring two baskets in the first 40 seconds, and you could almost tell it was going to be a fight from there on out. Nevertheless, Nova continued to hit some key shots and maintain their composure handling the ball and we led by as much as 8 points at the 7:25 mark after a long 3 ball by Emily Leer at the shot clock buzzer followed by a layup by Sweeney. Alas, that was the end of the Nova offense for the night.
Rutgers ramped up the press and pressure on in-bounds plays and hounded the Wildcats into submission. Leer scored a breakaway layup on a press break at the 3:18 mark to keep Nova up 46-41, but that was only basket that Nova would score in the last 7 minutes of regulation and the five minutes of overtime. In fact, other than a missed jumper at the buzzer by Megan Pearson that would have won the game, Nova only got off two other shots in the last 7 minutes of regulation, turning the ball over seven times. A rare three ball by Rutgers pulled them within three, and after a short jumper in the lane brought them to within 1, Rutgers had a chance to win in regulation. A drive with 8 seconds left resulted in a missed shot, but a shooting foul was called on Nova. A missed free throw kept us up by one, but the second shot was good to tie the game. Nova had a shot at the win but Pearson's shot just barely caught the front of the rim at the buzzer, leaving us in a 46-46 tie.
The overtime was anti-climatic as Rutgers quickly went up by six and the only points we could score in the overtime came from the foul line, shooting 0-6 from the field. Such a disappointing result, once again being outplayed at the end by a Rutgers team to extend our losing streak to them to 11.
A real downer, followed by a visit from #2 Notre Dame on Tuesday night. Come on out to try to cheer this team back on track - the Golden Domers will be sure to bring in a few fans for their team. A loss to the Irish will really put the pressure on Nova to get a must-win against Marquette next week. A loss to Marquette could really put this season on the skids.
Added link to Rutgers website game story and photos 2-2-13
This post was edited on 2/2 10:10 PM by tpenter
This post was edited on 2/2 10:10 PM by tpenter
This post was edited on 2/2 10:11 PM by tpenter
Link to Rutgers Game Story and Photos
Rutgers got their legs early in the second half scoring two baskets in the first 40 seconds, and you could almost tell it was going to be a fight from there on out. Nevertheless, Nova continued to hit some key shots and maintain their composure handling the ball and we led by as much as 8 points at the 7:25 mark after a long 3 ball by Emily Leer at the shot clock buzzer followed by a layup by Sweeney. Alas, that was the end of the Nova offense for the night.
Rutgers ramped up the press and pressure on in-bounds plays and hounded the Wildcats into submission. Leer scored a breakaway layup on a press break at the 3:18 mark to keep Nova up 46-41, but that was only basket that Nova would score in the last 7 minutes of regulation and the five minutes of overtime. In fact, other than a missed jumper at the buzzer by Megan Pearson that would have won the game, Nova only got off two other shots in the last 7 minutes of regulation, turning the ball over seven times. A rare three ball by Rutgers pulled them within three, and after a short jumper in the lane brought them to within 1, Rutgers had a chance to win in regulation. A drive with 8 seconds left resulted in a missed shot, but a shooting foul was called on Nova. A missed free throw kept us up by one, but the second shot was good to tie the game. Nova had a shot at the win but Pearson's shot just barely caught the front of the rim at the buzzer, leaving us in a 46-46 tie.
The overtime was anti-climatic as Rutgers quickly went up by six and the only points we could score in the overtime came from the foul line, shooting 0-6 from the field. Such a disappointing result, once again being outplayed at the end by a Rutgers team to extend our losing streak to them to 11.
A real downer, followed by a visit from #2 Notre Dame on Tuesday night. Come on out to try to cheer this team back on track - the Golden Domers will be sure to bring in a few fans for their team. A loss to the Irish will really put the pressure on Nova to get a must-win against Marquette next week. A loss to Marquette could really put this season on the skids.
Added link to Rutgers website game story and photos 2-2-13
This post was edited on 2/2 10:10 PM by tpenter
This post was edited on 2/2 10:10 PM by tpenter
This post was edited on 2/2 10:11 PM by tpenter
Link to Rutgers Game Story and Photos