MISSION STATEMENT
George Washington, who was ranked among the Top-25 teams in the nation until this week’s (Dec. 16) poll, started strong and took leads of 6-2 and 10-5 in the opening minutes. The Scarlet Knights took their initial lead at the 12:25 mark of the first half on a lay-up by McCullouch. With the score tied at 20 with 8:32 left in the half, sophomore forward Chelsea Newton (Monroe, LA) made a lay-up to give RU a lead it would not relinquish. Rutgers finished the half on a 21-9 run to lead 41-29 at intermission. RU shot 17-of-31 (.548) from the field in the opening half and forced 13 turnovers.
Rutgers continued its hot shooting in the second half, converting 12 of 21 (.571) field- goal attempts during the final 20 minutes of play. For the game, Rutgers was a season-best 29-of-52 (.558) from the field. McCullouch and Newton led the shooting effort as they combined to hit 15 of 22 (.682) shots. McCullouch was 9-of-15 (.600), while Newton was 6-of-7 (.857).
Sophomore center Amber Pettilon (Brick, NJ) had a productive 26 minutes off the bench, scoring seven points on 3-of-4 shooting (.750), adding five rebounds and two steals.
Rutgers tied its season high by forcing 24 turnovers, making 16 steals, with Newton coming up with five steals, and Mauri Horton (Minneapolis, MN) and Pondexter each contributing three.
POSTGAME NOTES
RU Team Season Highs –
The 87 points scored by the Scarlet Knights were the most by a Rutgers team
since Feb. 10, 2001, when RU defeated Providence 97-68.
This afternoon’s field-goal percentage of .558 (29-52) is a season high,
passing the .500 (34-68) shot against Harvard Dec. 21. The last time Rutgers’
field-goal percentage was that high was against Stephen F. Austin on March 17,
2001, when the Scarlet Knights shot .579 (33-57) overall in the first round
of the NCAA Tournament. In regular-season play, the last time their percentage
was that high was when the Knights shot 60.9 percent from the field (39-64)
against Providence Feb. 10, 2001).
Margin of Victory -
In RU’s six wins this season, the Scarlet Knights have defeated their
opponents by an average margin of 16.3 points. This afternoon’s 15-point
win was the third-largest, (39-point win versus Harvard Dec. 21, 31-point win
against Wagner, Nov. 30).
Turn It Over –
Rutgers forced the Colonials to commit 24 turnovers, tying the season high by
an opponent. Wagner was the first to turn the ball over 24 times on Nov. 30.
Rutgers is now forcing opponents to turn the ball over an average of 17.9 times
per game.
Four Double-Digits:
With Dawn McCullouch (24 pts), Chelsea Newton (18 pts), Cappie Pondexter (14
pts) and Michelle Campbell (10 pts) all scoring in double-digits, today’s
game marked the third time this season that four or more Scarlet Knights have
finished a game with 10 or more points. The last time four players scored in
double-figures was Dec. 6 at Virginia (Pondexter 19, Newton 16, Horton 13, McCullouch
12). Only once this season have five players scored in double figures - - against
Northwestern in the Rutgers Coca-Cola Classic championship game on Dec. 1 (Campbell
14, Horton 12, Newton 12, McCullouch 10, Pondexter 10)
20+ Crowd –
Junior Dawn McCullouch had her second consecutive 20+ point game this afternoon,
scoring 24 points on 9-of-15 (.600) shooting from the field. Against Harvard
Dec. 21, McCullouch led all scorers with 23 points. This is the fourth 20+ scoring
game of McCullouch’s career.
With McCullouch’s 24 points this afternoon, Rutgers is now 4-0 when one
player scores 20 or more points.
Double-Digit Half –
Junior Dawn McCullouch had her second consecutive game where she scored in double-digits
in the first half. Against George Washington today, McCullouch scored 12 points
in the opening period, shooting 5-of-9 (.556) from the field, including 2-for-3
(.667) from three-point range. In RU’s last outing, against Harvard Dec.
21, McCullouch had 12 points in the first half.
Sophomore Chelsea Newton also had her second game of the season scoring double-digit
points in the first half with 11 points on 5-of-6 (.833) shooting. Newton previously
scored in double figures during the opening half against Virginia on Dec. 6,
where she scored 10 points.
In all, five Scarlet Knights have scored in double-digits in the first half
this season:
Mauri Horton – 11 pts vs. Harvard (Dec. 21)
Dawn McCullouch – 12 pts vs. Harvard (Dec. 21), 12 pts vs. GW (Dec. 29)
Chelsea Newton – 10 pts vs. Virginia (Dec. 6), 11 vs. GW (Dec. 29)
Cappie Pondexter – 16 pts vs. Wagner (Nov. 30), 11 pts vs. Virginia (Dec.
6)
Official Basketball Box Score
GW vs Rutgers
12/29/02 2:00 p.m. at Louis Brown Ath. Center; Piscataway, NJ
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VISITORS: GW 4-4
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 JOENS, Cathy........ f 5-13 3-9 1-2 0 3 3 3 14 3 5 0 1 36
21 MONTANANA, Anna..... f 5-8 1-1 0-0 0 2 2 4 11 2 4 0 1 24
35 OHA, Ugo............ c 3-9 0-0 5-9 3 3 6 1 11 1 0 1 0 32
05 WITHERSPOON, M...... g 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 1 1 3 0 4 6 0 1 32
15 DAVIDSON, Lindsey... g 4-5 3-4 0-0 0 2 2 5 11 0 4 0 1 30
03 LAWRENCE, Erica..... 4-6 0-0 5-8 2 2 4 3 13 0 1 0 1 21
10 LEARY, Michaela..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 2 1 0 0 6
31 OUTEN BARLOW, Greeba 4-4 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 8 1 3 0 1 13
32 WILLIAMS, Valerie... 2-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 4 0 0 0 1 6
TEAM................ 2 2 4
Totals.............. 27-48 7-14 11-21 9 15 24 22 72 13 24 1 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-21 52.4% 2nd Half: 16-27 59.3% Game: 56.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-7 71.4% 2nd Half: 2-7 28.6% Game: 50.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-5 40.0% 2nd Half: 9-16 56.3% Game: 52.4% 5
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HOME TEAM: Rutgers 6-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 HORTON, Mauri....... f 3-9 1-6 1-2 3 2 5 3 8 3 1 0 3 34
32 NEWTON, Chelsea..... f 6-7 1-1 5-6 2 2 4 3 18 5 2 2 5 35
34 CAMPBELL, Michelle.. c 3-5 0-0 4-4 2 1 3 2 10 0 2 0 1 17
25 PONDEXTER, Cappie... g 3-8 0-1 8-12 0 2 2 3 14 9 5 0 3 34
35 McCULLOUCH, Dawn.... g 9-15 2-3 4-5 1 2 3 1 24 0 5 0 2 32
03 LOCKE, Courtney..... 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 6
22 PETILLON, Amber..... 3-4 0-0 1-2 2 3 5 4 7 0 2 0 2 26
42 THEODORIS, Mariota.. 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 0 2 0 2 1 0 7
52 CAHOE, Aquisha...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
55 RICHMAN, Rebecca.... 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 2 2 3 1 0 0 0 0 7
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 29-52 5-13 24-33 13 17 30 21 87 17 19 3 16 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-31 54.8% 2nd Half: 12-21 57.1% Game: 55.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-8 50.0% 2nd Half: 1-5 20.0% Game: 38.5% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-5 60.0% 2nd Half: 21-28 75.0% Game: 72.7% 4
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Officials: Jack Riordan, Bonita Spence, Tom Danahdan
Technical fouls: GW-None. Rutgers-None.
Attendance: 2579
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
GW............................ 29 43 - 72
Rutgers....................... 41 46 - 87
Points in the paint-GW 32,RU 34. Points off turnovers-GW 18,RU 32.
2nd chance points-GW 9,RU 13. Fast break points-GW 13,RU 18.
Bench points-GW 25,RU 13. Score tied-2 times. Lead changes-5 times.
