TCU
Rutgers (NCAA Tourney)
Lady Frogs Bow Out Of NCAA Tournament
3/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 21, 2006
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Cappie Pondexter scored 24 points to lead Rutgers to an 82-48 victory over TCU in the second round of the Cleveland Regional on Tuesday night.
Matee Ajavon led four other players in double figures with 18 points and also had 13 assists for No. 3 seed Rutgers (27-4), which will face Tennessee on Sunday. The second-seeded Vols, who defeated George Washington earlier Tuesday, beat Rutgers by 10 points in last year's regional final in Philadelphia.
Rutgers' win was the 750th for coach C. Vivian Stringer in her 1,000th game spanning 34 years at Cheyney State, Iowa and Rutgers. Only Pat Summitt of Tennessee and Texas coach Jody Conradt have more wins.
Adrianne Ross, Vanessa Clementino and Ashley Davis scored 10 points apiece to lead TCU (19-12). The 11th-seeded Horned Frogs were playing their second tournament game without leading scorer and rebounder Natasha Lacy, who left the team last week to attend to an unspecified personal matter.
Rutgers played much better than in its last two games - a 56-40 loss to West Virginia in the second round of the Big East Tournament and a more difficult than expected 63-58 win over No. 14 seed Dartmouth on Sunday.
Those struggles were a distant memory Tuesday as the Scarlet Knights trailed 8-2 before taking the lead and then outscoring the Horned Frogs 26-8 to take a commanding 39-20 advantage.
Pondexter hit consecutive 3-pointers and scored 11 points during the run. It turned out she was just getting started.
With Rutgers leading 41-22 to start the second half, Pondexter outscored TCU 10-5 herself in the first 6 minutes and the lead increased to 56-27, and eventually 72-37. The Scarlet Knights' lead never dipped below 30 after that.
Even Lacy would have been hard-pressed to make much of a dent in Rutgers' attack. The Scarlet Knights shot 65 percent (17-for-26) in the first half and 55 percent (31-for-56) for the game.
The 82 points were the most scored by Rutgers since a 90-42 win over Rider on Nov. 20, 2004.
