Rutgers Women’s Basketball earned its second win of the season in a 64-55 fourth quarter comeback against Quinnipiac.
The Scarlet Knights (2-0) looked good coming out of the gate, as they outscored the Bobcats (1-1) 13-7 in the first five minutes of play. Quinnipiac would push hard and take the lead before the end of the first quarter. They would go on a run at the start of the second quarter to take a 21-15 lead before Rutgers pushed back and with a 9-2 run to take a 24-23 lead. The Bobcats would go on a run in the last few minutes of the quarter and go into halftime with a three point lead.
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They would only relinquish that lead once in the third quarter before taking a 44-39 lead heading into the fourth. The Knights would hold Quinnipiac to just 3 points through the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, allowing them to take a 48-47 lead. Rutgers would only pull away from there, going on a 16 to eight point run to end the game.
Nene Ndiaye led the charge for the Knights, as she totaled 23 points on 7 for 11 field goal shooting and 8 for 10 free throw shooting. She also had the most rebounds on the team with nine.
Rutgers did better than Quinnipiac in most categories. Their field goal percentage was better, 41.7 percent to 37.7 percent. They out-rebounded the Bobcats 40 to 30. They also had three fewer turnovers, a much better free throw percentage, and dominated in the paint.
One category where the Bobcats did better than Rutgers was three point shooting. The Knights only hit 28.6 percent of their shots from beyond the arc, while Quinnipiac hit 37.5 percent. Their perimeter shooting and defense will have to improve before conference play rolls around, or else that can become a huge problem once the competition steps up.
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Despite being from a lower conference, this win is a good sign for Rutgers, as the Bobcats are one of the better teams from the mid-major level in women’s basketball. They were the runners-up in the MAAC tournament last season and were invited to the WBIT, which is considered better than the WNIT, where the Knights ended up last season.
Rutgers Women’s Basketball will be back in action on Sunday, November 9th, as they are set to take on Stony Brook at home at 2 pm.
