Rutgers women's basketball looks for success in South Point Classic
The Rutgers women’s basketball team will look to fly home with back-to-back wins when it heads to Las Vegas for the South Point Classic. The Scarlet Knights (3-3, 0-0) will face off against Texas Tech and Boise State on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
The last time it hit the hardwood, Rutgers fell to Fairfield 78-54 in a game where the Knights struggled to match their opponent’s pace.
"Tonight, I don’t think there was any real flow on either end of the floor," head coach Coquese Washington said after Monday’s loss to the Stags (3-1, 0-0). "So, we’ve got a lot that we’ve gotta try to get fitting together."
Through its first six games of the season, Rutgers has scored 65.8 points per game (PPG) while allowing opponents to score an average of 63.5 PPG.
After dropping three of their last four games, the Knights will look to find success against the Lady Raiders (5-0, 0-0) in their first game of the South Point Classic this Friday.
Texas Tech has scored an average of 76 PPG in its first five games while only allowing opponents to score 52.6 PPG.
Jasmine Shavers and Bailey Maupin have been the Lady Raiders’ top scorers so far. Shavers averages 16.4 PPG, while Maupin averages 16 PPG. Shavers can also do damage behind the arc and on defense, as she leads the team with eight three-pointers and 12 total steals.
Rutgers will need to watch Kilah Freelon down low as she leads Texas Tech with 35 total rebounds, 21 on defense and 14 on offense.
The following day, the Knights will battle with the Broncos (4-0, 0-0), who also have a perfect record to begin the season.
Boise State is coming off a 16-point victory against Pepperdine, where it hit 47.9 percent of its shots from the field. Through their first four games, the Broncos have scored 69.8 PPG. Their tight defensive play has held opponents to just 46 PPG.
Natalie Pasco leads Boise State in scoring with 12 PPG and a 55.6 success rate from three-point range. Abby Muse will be the woman to watch in the paint on both ends of the floor, as she averages nine rebounds per game.
If Rutgers wants to defeat is tough opponents in Las Vegas, it will need to play stronger on defense and muscle its way into getting rebounds.
Washington spoke about what she hopes the team full of newcomers can improve on before its road trip.
"We got to figure out how to make all these new pieces fit together, and it’s a little more challenging than we all want it to be," Washington said. "And it’s just taking longer than any of us would like, so we’ll keep plugging away and see how quickly we’ll get these pieces to fit together."
The Knights will tip off with the Lady Raiders on Friday at 9:30 p.m. and will face the Broncos the next day at the same time. Both games will be broadcast on FloHoops and 88.7 WRSU-FM at the South Point Arena in Las Vegas.
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