Tying her career high for points meant nothing. That her team hung with a top-five opponent meant just as little.
Some combination of anguish and weariness pierced the voice of Rutgers senior Myia McCurdy Monday night, the sort of pain caused by a final season like this, in which statement victories prove elusive and losses sting.
“All I want to do is win,” McCurdy said after scoring 14 points in a 75-63 loss to No. 3 Notre Dame at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway Monday night.
Except wins are hard to come by.
The Rutgers team is both dependable and maddening. Each game, it brings a collective intensity and a harassing defense. It also brings a nine-woman roster stacked with inaccurate shooters and players unable to produce in crucial, second-half moments.
The Scarlet Knights (12-10, 4-4 Big East) shot 37.5 percent and turned the ball over 22 times Monday night, fumbling away another opening.
“If I knew,” Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer said, “I would tell you what it is. It’s just like, ‘Wow, time to execute.’ And then, miraculously, it just disappeared.”
Unable to make outside shots, the Scarlet Knights were forced to push inside Monday night. Unable to finish enough lay-ups and sink enough free throws, the Scarlet Knights were unable to win.
Rutgers disrupted its opponent — like it did in losses to ranked foes like Georgia, Texas, Syracuse and Georgetown — but still lost.
The Scarlet Knights dropped their third in a row, all to ranked teams, and saw a six-game home winning streak snapped. They lost to the Irish (20-1, 7-1) for the first time since 2005 and for the first time at home since 2002.
Rutgers nipped and clawed at its opponent for 40 minutes. The Irish just had answers. Five of Notre Dame’s players finished in double figures and they absorbed the attack of Stringer’s full-court press.
When sophomore Chelsey Lee (11 points, 10 rebounds) cut the lead to 2 with six minutes left for Rutgers, Notre Dame’s Lindsay Schrader netted her own lay-up. When Lee knocked down two free throws on the other end, Skylar Diggins stuck a mid-range jumper.
So it went until an Ashley Barlow 3 gave Notre Dame a seven-point lead just before the three-minute mark.
Sophomore Khadijah Rushdan’s ability to create inside (a team-high 16) and McCurdy’s ability to hit from the baseline in the second half offset brutal evenings from senior Brittany Ray (2-for-10) and sophomore April Sykes (0-for-10) for Rutgers. For Ray and Sykes, both mired in slumps, the looks were often strong. The aim was just wayward.
Ray is now 3-for-31 from the floor over this three-game losing streak.
“She just needs to keep shooting,” McCurdy said. “Keep her confidence up.”
Andy McCullough may be reached at amccullough@starledger.com