Piscataway, N.J. – It was not the way anybody on Army women’s basketball team wanted to end the season.
But, the Black Knights went down fighting at heavily-favored host Rutgers before succumbing to the Scarlet Knights, 71-60, in the WNIT second round at Jersey Mike’s Arena.
Considering the game did not start well for Army, trailing 18-4 less than four minutes into the game, many on the Army side took the Black Knights slow, actually extremely slow, ability to fight their way back into the contest as a morale victory of sorts. In fact, a Camryn Tade layup with 6:25 left in the game drew Army to within three of the Scarlet Knights, 56-53.
But, a combination of Rutgers dominating the inside game and Army missing a number of outside shots prevented the Black Knights from getting any closer to Rutgers.
“There is no easy way to end the season or say goodbye to such a fantastic group,” said Army coach Missy Traversi. “We had a respectable performance and we battled. Unfortunately, we had a scoring drought and we were not able to put the ball in the basket. And, they were able to attack us and get to the free throw line.”
With several tall players, including 6-foot-3 Destiny Adams, who is projected to go in the first round of the upcoming WNBA draft and had 12 points and 10 rebounds, Rutgers outscored Army 36 to 20 in the paint. The Scarlet Knights also scored 14 points from the foul line, while Army managed just eight points from the strip.
Army took 33 shots from beyond the 3-point line, hitting six, while Rutgers took 15 shots from beyond three-point range, hitting five shots.
“They were bigger, faster and stronger at times,” Travesi said. “But I think we had our moments. There is a lot of good to take away from it.”
Even with the loss that ended the Black Knights’ season and the brilliant four-year career of senior guard Trinity Hardy, Traversi said there was a lot to be proud of this campaign.
“The experience in the postseason is going to propel us in future seasons,” Traversi said. “Obviously, losing Trinity is a huge loss but we have other players ready to step up and do what they can to help the program take another step next year.”
Traversi said that when she gets a chance to reflect on the season there is going to be a lot of positives, including finishing with a 25-8 record, beating Navy twice and an overtime win over Air Force, getting to the championship game of the Patriot League and beating Bryant in the first round of the WNIT.
“The best part about this team is that they are a team,” Traversi noted. “It is always been about us, never about we. That is my biggest takeaway from this season.”
Tade led Army with 13 points, while Fiona Hastick scored 12 points and Kya Smith had 11 points. In her last game wearing an Army uniform, Hardy scored eight points and had eight rebounds.
