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Saturday, Feb. 24 2:00pm ET
Rutgers' lack of pursuit kept West Virginia in game RECAP | BOX SCORE
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- Rutgers needed some prodding by coach
C. Vivian Stringer to play with intensity against one of the Big
East's worst teams.
Davalyn Cunningham scored 19 points and Rutgers (No. 11 ESPN/USA Today, No. 9 AP) took
advantage of two scoring droughts by West Virginia for a 67-53
victory Saturday.
Stringer didn't like her players' lack of defensive pursuit in
the first half. After she did some yelling, though, Rutgers did
effectively run the full-court press.
"I figured that when push came to shove, we would pick it up
and win," Stringer said. "But I resented the fact that it took us
that long. We just didn't play aggressive.
"I know what we can do, we just have to step it up to that
level."
Tammy Sutton-Brown, who had 15 points for Rutgers, said it was a
matter of getting adjusted to a West Virginia team that "had
nothing to lose."
"Once we got everyone together on the same page, our press was
very effective," she said. "We knew going into the game that a
win against us would send them to the Big East tournament and we
knew they would put up a fight."
Rutgers' early lack of effort wasn't apparent to West Virginia,
which slowly wore down and couldn't find time to set up a shot.
"We used up so much energy and effort in the first half and
throughout the game our shots came up a little short," West
Virginia coach Alexis Basil said.
Rutgers (20-6, 12-3 Big East) clinched the third seed in next
month's Big East tournament at Storrs, Conn. The top four teams get
first-round byes.
The Scarlet Knights close out the regular season Tuesday at
Georgetown.
"Our game against Georgetown will dictate how we perform in the
tournament," Stringer said. "I'm looking for us to play well."
Rutgers held West Virginia scoreless over the final two minutes
of the first half. Cunningham's jumper started an 8-0 run and the
Scarlet Knights led 37-28 at halftime.
In the second half, the Mountaineers (5-21, 3-12) went scoreless
over a nine-minute stretch as Rutgers used a 14-0 run for a 59-39
lead with 6:42 remaining.
Dawn McCulloch, a freshman who didn't play in the first half,
scored seven of her nine points during the run.
Alia Clark led West Virginia with 16 points. Darya Kudryavtseva
and freshman Kate Bulger had 12 apiece.
Rutgers shot 51 percent from the floor and outrebounded West
Virginia 34-28. The Mountaineers shot just 40 percent.
The teams attempted only a combined 19 free throws.
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