Rutgers eliminates VCU in NCAA women’s tournament

PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- No, the Virginia Commonwealth University women's basketball team didn't win in its NCAA tournament debut against Rutgers. But the Rams did the next best thing.

They proved that they belonged.

VCU chopped an 18-point second-half deficit to six before running out of time and magic yesterday on the Scarlet Knights' home floor. Rutgers, seeded seventh in the Oklahoma City Region, escaped with a 57-51 victory that left the winners more subdued than the losers.

Rams post player Quanitra Hollingsworth, who delivered a 16-point, 11-rebound effort in the final game of her college career, reacted indignantly when asked if she thought VCU's cause was lost when the Scarlet Knights (20-12) surged to a 55-37 advantage with 6:21 remaining.

"We always thought it was doable," she said. "We believed we could win and we never stopped believing it. There's no point in playing the game if you don't think you can win," she said. "I always think we can win. Always. I don't care how much the opponent is up. You should still have the desire to win. I think we showed that tonight."

Tenth-seeded VCU (26-7) held Rutgers to only two free throws over the final six-plus minutes. Simultaneously, the Rams launched a rally that drove the dressed-in-red crowd of nearly 4,000 into spasms of consternation. Hollingsworth scored from deep in the paint against Rutgers' press to pare the Scarlet Knights' advantage to nine points at 1:36.

A Rutgers turnover followed -- its third in as many possessions. VCU senior Radoslava Bachvarova buried a 3-pointer from the left wing to pull the Rams to 55-49 at 1:27. And then, like a summer thunderstorm that arrives and vanishes quickly, the eruption subsided. VCU, which shot 33.9 percent against the voracious Rutgers defense, came up empty on three consecutive possessions before Scarlet Knights post player Kia Vaughn made 1 of 2 free throws at :33.6.

"We prepared and practiced to win and today we competed to win," said Rams coach Beth Cunningham. "I told them [beforehand]: 'You deserve to be in this tournament because you're capable of winning in this tournament.' I believed that. I think we all believed that."

Rutgers apparently didn't. Scarlet Knights coach C. Vivian Stringer, believing the game was safely in hand, permitted her club to play much of the final five minutes with a lineup that included standout guard Epiphanny Prince, two of her top reserves and two heralded freshmen.

Said Stringer: "It would have been good if we could have stopped the game at the point I took my starters out."

Bachvarova matched Hollingsworth with 16 points. No other Rams player reached double figures. Guard Epiphanny Prince delivered a 26-point, 11-rebound double-double for Rutgers. Post player Kia Vaughn added 13 points and six rebounds.

Impressive though it was, Cunningham said, her club's fierce but incomplete rally "in some ways makes it hurt even more. Now you're going to look back and say, 'If a few things had gone a little differently -- a couple of shots here, a couple of rebounds there -- who knows?"

Rutgers, which will face second-seeded Auburn in tomorrow's second-round game, seized the contest by the throat with an 11-0 surge at the midpoint of the second half. VCU trailed by only two at halftime and was hanging around tenaciously when the Scarlet Knights stomped on the accelerator.

Guard Brittany Ray began the surge by sinking perimeter jump shots, one a 3-pointer, on consecutive possessions. Then a breakdown in transition defense and back-to-back VCU turnovers permitted Prince to score on back-to-back-to-back possessions. The last of those baskets, a foul-line jumper set up by a series of wicked feints against Bachvarova, set the arena rocking.

Stringer "is always telling us that Kia and I need to be the keepers of the house," Prince said. "So that's what I was trying to do. I was just trying to be aggressive."

Said Cunningham: "We did a pretty good job on her in the first half. I think she had two field goals. But a player of her caliber -- at some point, sooner or later, you know she's going to get going."

VCU (26-7)

Waller 6, Bachvarova 16, Hollingsworth 16, Lane 0, Rorie 9, Patterson 0, Taylor 2, Hurt 2. Totals 20 9-17 51.
RUTGERS (20-12)

Zurich 2, Vaughn 13, Rushdan 5, Prince 26, Ray 6, Speed 0, Sykes 0, McCurdy 0, Pope 0, Lee 0, Junaid 5. Totals 21 13-24 57

Halftime--Rutgers 25-23.

3-point goals -- VCU: Bachvarova 2; Rutgers: Prince, Ray. A: 3,883.