January 12th, 2008: Seton Hall at Rutgers

The Pirates can't shoot, Heather Zurich saves the day, and Coach Stringer color-coordinates.


Looks like it's Rivalry Weekend in the Garden State, at least when it comes to the ladies of the hardwood, so where better to be on a Saturday afternoon than the RAC for The Battle of New Jersey as Seton Hall and Rutgers grappled, and what better way to spend a cold Saturday night than at Jadwin Gym as the Princeton Tigers opened their Ivy schedule with rival Penn?

First the familiar: RAC sweet RAC. I've come to love that strange little trapezoidal building and appreciate the way its build allows noise to collect at the bottom, attempt to rise to the girdered ceiling, and sink back down into the mass of people, there to wash, rinse, and repeat. A most excellent turnout, and mostly not even due to Seton Hall fans: that bright blue does tend to stand out, especially in a building as washed in Scarlet as the RAC- I've been to many a basketball game, and I don't think I've ever seen as large a percentage of a crowd in team gear as I ever have at any Rutgers game.

Fortunately, unlike the game versus St. John's, they had the full band on hand this time, and they did a credible job with the anthem. Hey, when it's a song you know and know well, you tend to fuss about how it's performed.

I've never seen a team take as many bad shots as Seton Hall did. Lord have mercy, but they were chucking. It was as if they expected someone (or Someone) to give them a hand each and every time, and really, Someone has better things to do than help each and every single shot. I was worried that they would come back big in the second half, because they went very deep into their rotation, and certainly they scored well in the second half, but they couldn't get to the line, which impaired their ability to score- although taking mind-numbingly stupid jumpers is totally not going to help any team get to the line for free throws. They brought an interesting combination in the post- the shorter but wider and very physical Amber Harris (no not that one) and the taller, slimmer, Noteisha Womack. I absolutely loved watching Womack work in the post- it's nice to see a player with a consistent hook in the women's game. Harris set some wicked screens. In the first half, I turned to the boy and said, "Why aren't they going to 21 (Ela Mukosiej) more? She's been faking out Essence freakin' Carson- okay, she's got bad hands, but she's faking out one of a defensive team's defensive aces on a consistent basis." In the second half she scored all six of her points, including four in short order. That was also when Jadis Rhodin came to life, hitting the threes she'd been missing and scoring pretty much all of her seventeen points. But Seton Hall made way too many mental mistakes to have a chance of keeping the game close so that they could make a run- they'd put themselves in too much of a hole before they started coming back.

Heather Zurich, ilu. With Essence Carson clearly not herself- slow on defense, making uncharacteristically stupid plays, not hitting her shots- Heather stepped up and hit the midrange jumpers- when Seton Hall made a hint of a run in the second half, she stopped it, plus she played excellent defense as necessary. Of course, the bulk of the lead-building came from Epiphanny Prince's daredevil drives and nifty shots, and the cherry was put on by Matee Ajavon and some of her "naw, you're just practicing that to win a game of HORSE" shots in the second half. (I'm thinking the twisting, somewhat spastic, layup myself.) With Brittany Ray injured or sitting for some other reason, having suffered a torn meniscus against Princeton five frickin' games ago, how do you not notice these things, Katie Adams got extended time in the first half, and you could feel the arena's anticipation, hoping and praying that she'd put the ball in the basket. Didn't happen. Kia Vaughn started the game badly, completely out of it on both ends of the floor. We're talking about standing there and watching the rebound go by. Somewhere along the line, perhaps through the well-timed insertions of Rashidat Junaid, someone pulled her by the ponytail until her head was fully out of her ass, and she started playing more aggressively, like she's a big strong young woman with a good touch. I hope she's aware that she's replaceable in this starting lineup, either by Junaid or by Stringer going quite crazy and going small.

Now, I'm not sure if Stringer decided to use her wardrobe to make a point about the importance of this game, or she got her outfits for this week and last week mixed up while trying to color-coordinate with the opposing team a la Jenny Boucek. Whatever the case, she was properly attired in team colors. I just wish she'd been a little more Rutgers-esque in some of her defensive moves, because there were some ugly mismatches at times, and they looked like badly chosen assignments, not blown assignments.

Almost forgot to mention (hey, look at the timestamp, I'm allowed)! They rolled out the red carpet at the RAC today to give out the BEast rings from the tournament last year. I like seeing Michelle Edwards get bling, even if it's bling that doesn't mean very much in the greater scheme of things. Essence Carson was also honored for hitting the thousand-point mark against Pepperdine. I'm surprised it took her so long. I know RU's offense is… not their speciality, and I know she's not a major scorer, and I know she's been sharing shots with Ajavon her entire career, but it still surprises me that a player who can be as effective as Essence can be took three and a half years to hit four digits on the scoreometer. Whatever. She did it, so major congrats to a most awesome young lady.

I'm not pleased that they've gotten chinchy with the scoresheets. Nothing like five minutes before tip trying to scribble in the entire rosters of both teams, plus years, positions, and numbers. Doesn't help that we bought a program in hopes of getting a scoresheet, only to discover that hi, free ones over yonder.

I think there may have been an alumna or two at the game, judging from the number of tall young women in official-looking gear who seemed to be a touch too old to be recruits.

A most satisfying win, in conclusion, except for having more turnovers than the opponent. So, despite the margin of victory, I kinda feel bad for Georgetown.