Guru’s WBB March Madness - I: Rutgers Upset By BYU, 69-66

By Cathy Bongiovi 

 

Sixth-seeded Rutgers was expected to make history on Monday when the Scarlet Knights faced No. 11 seed Brigham Young (19-5) in first round action of the NCAA Tournament.

 

One of the youngest team in the country did just that. 

 

Unfortunately, following a rare day in which no upsets occurred to start the first round, the Scarlet Knights became the first of several higher seeds in the 2021 NCAA women’s tourney to be eliminated by a lower seed, falling to BYU, 69-66, at Texas State’s Strahan Arena.

 

Later a group of other shockers saw fourth-seeded Arkansas, the only team to beat top-ranked UConn to date, fall to 13^th-seeded Wright State, 66-62; Belmont, a 12^th seed, stun fifth-seeded Gonzaga, 64-59; while close escapes were pulled by second-seeded Texas A&M over 15^th-seeded Troy, 84-80; and seventh-seeded Iowa State over 10^th-seeded Michigan State, 79-75.

 

 "First of all, I want to congratulate Rutgers," said 20^th-year BYU head coach Jeff Judkins. "They have a really good team. I think that's the best team we played all year. They are very well coached and very disciplined in what they do.

 

“Today the ball bounced our way, especially at the end. That's what basketball is so much about, especially in the NCAA Tournament. The ball can bounce your way and make some big differences.

 

“You probably notice in the whole Tournament, when the top seed has a game close in the end, it's a lot more pressure on them, more than the underdog and I think that's what happened a little bit today.”

The Cougars (19-5) advanced to the second round of the Mercado Region where on Wednesday they will face third-seeded Arizona (17-5) which advanced with a 79-44 win over 14th-seeded Stony Brook (15-6).

The Scarlet Knights’ loss comes just two days after the men’s 10th-seeded team in Indianapolis let a lead on second-seeded Houston get away down the stretch, ruining an upset and chance to move to the Sweet 16.

 

Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer was matter-of-fact about the outcome of the game.

 

“We just missed shots. It’s as simple as that, and sometimes that just happens,” said the mentor who is In her 50^th season overall and her 26^th season with the Scarlet Knights. 

 

“Their coach has done an outstanding job with the team. I’m not taking anything away from them. 

 

“We wish them well going forward, but at the end of the day, I was just disappointed that we couldn’t hit more shots than what we got.”

 

Playing all 40 minutes, two-time AP All-American redshirt senior Arella Guirantes led Rutgers (14-5) with 30 points and six rebounds in the final game of her collegiate career.   

 

“It hurts. It definitely hurts,” Guirantes said, wiping away tears during the video conference.

 

“I know everything happens for a reason, and I’m going to take my time to be sad about it now in the moment.”

 

True freshman point guard Diamond Johnson, who also played the entire game, followed with 13 points.

Senior forward Tekia Mack rounded out RU’s double-figure scorers with 11 points.

 

For BYU, three-time first-team All-WCC senior guard Paisley Johnson Harding was the top scorer with 28 points. 

 

Sophomore West Coast Conference co-Player of the Year Shaylee Gonzales followed with 17 points, including 10-of-11 from the free throw line.  

“We all just came together as a team and we told each other that we’re going to win this game — that we’re not letting back and that we needed to fight,” Gonzales said. “We came together and told ourselves that we needed to pick up our defense.”

 

 Fellow sophomore Lauren Gustin had a double-double performance of 10 points and a game-high 11 boards.

 

BYU came out on fire in the first quarter, going ahead by four points, 5-1.

 

But the Scarlet Knights relied on their defense, grabbing six steals to retake the lead, 12-10.

 

In the second quarter, RU jumped ahead by five, 16-11, but the Cougars tied the game at 18-18.

 

BYU then embarked upon an 11-2 run, holding Rutgers to just two free throws over 4:07 of action, and going ahead 24-20.

 

  Guirantes’ hot shooting got RU back on track with a 10-0 run to end the stanza and lead at intermission, 30-24. 

 

In the third quarter, the Scarlet Knights increased their lead to as many as 12 points, 49-37, fueled by Mack’s 11 points. 

 

BYU battled back, closing the period with a 6-1 run to come within seven points, 50-43.

BYU entered the fourth quarter fired up.  

 

Harding chipped in eight points of an 10-2 run as BYU came within one, 54-53, with  5:56 remaining. The Cougars’ defense held RU scoreless over 5:11. 

 

“We just were out of sync. That’s as simple as I can give it to you. I don’t know why,” Stringer said. 

 

“We have a number of people that can score and did score and have consistently scored throughout the games that we’ve had. But weren’t able to hit today.”

 

The Cougars weren’t finished.

 

 They retook the lead for the first time and went up by five, 68-63, with 13 seconds to go.

 

  Rutgers’ freshman guard Liz Martino nailed a three-point to come within two, 68-66, with three seconds on the clock. 

 

BYU then went to the line where Harding converted the first of two free throws for the game’s final score.