Women's Basketball Falls at Rutgers, 63-41

Brittney Messina

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Seton Hall women's basketball team was held scoreless over the last four minutes as ninth-ranked Rutgers pulled away for a 63-41 win at the Louis Brown Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon. The loss is the second straight in BIG EAST play, as the Pirates fall to 5-10 overall and 2-2 in the league. The Scarlet Knights improve to 12-2 and 4-0.

Freshman Brittney Messina (Massapequa, N.Y.) hit a short jumper to bring Seton Hall within 49-41 at the 3:58 mark of the second half, but Rutgers went on a 14-0 run to close the game and pull away for the win. Following Messina's jumper, Kia Vaughn answered with a layup for RU to push the lead to 10. SHU had consecutive chances to cut the lead, but missed a pair of layups on consecutive possessions, while RU hit its last three field goals and went 6-of-9 from the foul line to close out the game.

The Pirates trailed 30-24 at halftime, but came out and quickly cut into the lead after junior Monique Blake (Union, N.J.) hit a jumper and freshman Shantel Brown (Lakewood, N.J.) hit a pair of foul shuts to make it 32-28 at the 18:30 mark. SHU freshman Jadis Rhodin (Lakehurst, N.J.) got a steal on RU's next possession, but missed a short jumper and Blake's follow-up attempt missed as well. Rutgers got the rebound and Michelle Campbell converted at the other end to push the lead back to 34-28 at the 17:24 mark.

The Scarlet Knights went ahead 43-32 on a three by Matee Ajavon, but Messina got the Pirates back into it with a layup and three-pointer on back-to-back possessions to make it 43-37 with 9:37 remaining. However, SHU failed to convert on a pair of ensuing possessions and Campbell hit another layup for RU to make it 45-37. The closest the Pirates got the rest of the way was following Messina's jumper to make it 49-41 at the 3:58 mark.

Seton Hall shot just 28.0 percent (7-of-25) in the second half, including 1-of-5 from the arc, while Rutgers shot 61.9 percent (13-of-21). Campbell led all scorers with 16 points, scoring 12 of them in the second half. SHU was led by Blake's 15 points and nine rebounds, while Messina chipped in with 12 off the bench. Junior Heta Korpivaara (Espoo, Finland) came in averaging over 16 points-per-game in league play, but was held scoreless, while Brown went 0-for-7 from the floor and finished with just two points.

The Pirates kept the game close in the first half despite shooting just 31.3 percent, while the Scarlet Knights shot 50.0 percent from the field. RU jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but Rhodin hit seven straight points and Blake hit a layup to give SHU a 9-5 lead at the 14:24 mark. The teams went back-and-forth until SHU took a 16-13 lead at the 10:40 mark on a three by Messina. The Scarlet Knights responded with a 17-0 run over a six minute span to go ahead 30-16 with 4:12 to go. A three-pointer, by senior Keri Shutz (Edison, N.J.) ended SHU's dry spell and kick-started an 8-0 run for the Pirates. Blake hit a layup and added a three-pointer to get SHU within 30-22 at the 2:41 mark, and neither team scored again in the half, until Blake hit a layup at the buzzer to send the teams into halftime with a 30-24 score.

Seton Hall was outrebounded 36-31 and went just 3-of-6 from the foul line, compared to a 9-of-14 mark for Rutgers. RU's leading-scorer, Cappie Pondexter scored just 13 points, well below her season average of 22 per game, but she added four assists. Ajavon added 13 points off the bench to go with seven assists.

The Pirates return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 18, with a 7:00 p.m. game at Providence.

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