Losing Essence Carson and Matee Ajavon doesn't mean Rutgers can't compete next season

4/2/2008 4:35 PM

By TOM CANAVAN
AP Sports Writer

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -This might be the last time Rutgers and C. Vivian Stringer fall just short in the NCAA women's basketball tournament.

There is no doubt that Stringer and seniors Essence Carson and Matee Ajavon felt they let one get away in blowing a a 14-point lead to No. 1 Connecticut in the Greensboro (N.C.) regional final on Tuesday night.

It cost them a second straight trip to the Final Four, and left some wondering whether Rutgers would ever join the likes of Tennessee and Connecticut atop the pack in women's basketball.

Not to worry.

The Scarlet Knights will be back next season, and maybe better than ever.

They came close in 2007, losing the title game to Pat Summitt and Tennessee. And they had a real shot this season, returning every player from the '07 club, until injuries and a talented UConn club ended their dreams.

``It seemed the season ended too early,'' Carson said Wednesday in a conference call to discuss the upcoming WNBA draft. ``Hopefully, the underclassmen will learn from the mistakes we made and make strides next year.''

Rutgers, which finished the season with eight healthy players, should be very deep and talented next season. Starting center Kia Vaughn, guard Epiphanny Prince and forward Heather Zurich are back, as well as forward Myia McCurdy, guards Brittany Ray and Khadijah Rushdan and centers Rashidat Junaid and Kellindra Zachery, who redshirted this past season.

Add to them possibly the best recruiting class in women's basketball - guard-forward Jasmine Dixon of Long Beach, Calif.; forward Chelsey Lee of Miami; forward Brooklyn Pope of Fort Worth, Texas; point guard Nikki Speed of Pasadena, Calif., and guard-forward April Sykes of Crawford, Miss.

Stringer lamented the loss of Carson and Ajavon. The two seniors led the Scarlet Knights to four NCAA tournament appearances, losing once in the regional semifinals. twice in the regional finals and one in the national title game.

``If we are fortunate in the years to come to have players that embody all of the things they do ... I will consider myself blessed,'' Stringer said Tuesday night.

``It doesn't come but once every 10 years,'' she later added. ``I'm fortunate. I'm so sorry for them and for our team that we were not able to realize what we felt strongly we could do, and that is to play in a Final Four.''

Getting this far was impressive, considering that the team was under the microscope all season in the wake of the Don Imus controversy.

Just a day after Rutgers lost the title to Tennessee, the Scarlet Knights became the focus of racist and sexist comments by Imus, who was later fired by MSNBC and CBS Radio.

Carson took pride in the season.

``I can say we're all proud of each other, in the face of adversity we seemed to continue to rise and continue to remain strong and stay together and continue to fight,'' she said. ``There could have been many points in the season where we could have given up, but we didn't do that.''

In the end, the Huskies had a little more depth and wore down Rutgers.

``I don't think we gave up,'' Ajavon said after the game. ``Even when the momentum was on UConn's side, we continued to push, we continued to strive. Everybody had that look in their eye that they didn't want it to be over.''

Carson believes that she and Ajavon learned a lot from Stringer.

``She definitely teaches you the game of basketball, she doesn't just breed players,'' Carson said. ``She breeds basketball minds that can take you really far in the world of professional basketball as well as people all around.''

AP Sports Writer Joedy McCreary in Greensboro, N.C., contributed to this report.