Rutgers Center Blocking Out the Attention

Kia Vaughn prefers blocking shots to scoring for Rutgers. Her next assignment will be trying to block a player who made history last week by dunking twice in an NCAA game.

Vaughn, a 6-foot-4 freshman center who helped lead the Scarlet Knights to a 16-0 record in the Big East this season, will face Tennessee and dunking sensation Candace Parker today in the third round of the tournament.

Vaughn and Parker played together on USA Basketball youth developmental teams in high school. Vaughn’s early exposure to Parker may prove helpful.

“She’s a good all-around player,” Vaughn said. “I’ll know what to do.”

Vaughn led Saint Michael Academy to four Catholic League titles in New York City. She averaged 26 points, 20 rebounds and seven blocked shots at Saint Michael, located two blocks from Madison Square Garden.

“She’s like a throwback type of player, I always compared her to Bill Russell,” said Apache Paschall, her high school coach. “She’s the rare player who felt like defense was the key. She took more pride in stopping players rather than scoring 20 or 30 points.

“She could dominate a game by blocking shots, intimidating people and rebounding.”

That’s a good fit with Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer, who preaches defense. Initially, Stringer didn’t want Vaughn to try to block shots, because she didn’t want her picking up fouls.

“I have never allowed a player to stand behind a post player,” Stringer said. “We have always fronted and looked for help from the weak side. Because she’s so quick with her feet and her timing is so good, we allow her to stay behind a post player. It allows her to be in excellent rebounding position.”

Vaughn, the Big East preseason freshman of the year, averaged 6.1 points and a team-high 7.0 rebounds and 2.1 blocks this season.

She sometimes is paired with seniors Michelle Campbell or Mariota Theodoris in the post. That opens up the perimeter for senior Cappie Pondexter, who leads Rutgers with 21.5 points per game.

Now Stringer is looking for more scoring from the rookie. Vaughn had a double-double Tuesday night, contributing 10 points and 11 rebounds to help the third-seeded Scarlet Knights rout TCU, 82-48, in the second round of the Cleveland Regional.

“On the offensive side, we haven’t seen the consistency yet,” Stringer said. “I hope that something ticks, because she’s going to break out. I sure hope it’s soon.”

The Scarlet Knights (27-4) face second-seeded Tennessee (30-4), which knocked them out in a regional final last year. Parker, a redshirt freshman after sitting out last season with knee injuries, is averaging 16.9 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks.

Vaughn is not a dunker, but has grabbed the rim since she started playing basketball in the eighth grade. She knows she may have to stop Parker from trying to dunk on her.

“If I know Kia, she’s just thinking, ‘I want to be there to block that,’ ” Paschall said.

The oldest child and the only girl among seven brothers, Vaughn grew up in the Bronx near Yankee Stadium. She played AAU ball for the New York Exodus, a team Paschall coached, while excelling at Saint Michael. She was selected as a Parade third-team All-American as a senior.

“She has a tremendous work ethic,” said Jennifer Maxon, Saint Michael’s athletic director. “There was another player that came in as a freshman at 6-3 with a similar build. But she had fallen off the map and Kia became an All-American. There was nothing natural about that ability, she worked very hard for it.”

At Rutgers, she bangs up against male practice players. Stringer also instructs teammates to make things hard on the rookie.

“Coach Stringer’s rule is when Kia Vaughn gets the ball, you must foul her and try to go after the ball,” Vaughn said. “Make it really tough to score and get finishes. They like it, they get to smack me up. It’s helpful.”

Off the court, Vaughn said her teammates are “like sisters” and fall into three groups.

The seniors tell her to “stay away from boys,” the sophomores are rappers and entertainers led by Matee Ajavon, while the freshmen “talk about boys and doing our hair.”

“My team helped me with the transition: ‘We’re here for you, coach Stringer breaks you down,’ ” she said. “They went through it before me, they know how it feels.”

Stringer, the first coach to lead two different teams to the Final Four, is known to be tough yet caring.

“She treats you like one of her own children,” Vaughn said. “She’s very humble and down to earth. What I appreciate is, she separates herself on the court and off the court. You might get screamed at, but you can still talk to her about what’s bothering you. You can cry on her shoulder, suck it up and play hard the next time.”

Vaughn’s talents were on display last month against St. John’s, which lost Tuesday in the second round of the NCAA tournament to second-seeded Maryland. Against the Red Storm, Vaughn had 15 points on seven-of-nine shooting, five rebounds, four blocks and two steals in a 10-point win.

“She’s going to be phenomenal,” said St. John’s Coach Kim Barnes Arico. “She’s so big, her hands are so good, she’s so strong. She’s tough to defend and she rebounds like heck.”

The aspiring model lost some weight this season to help her defensive footwork and shot blocking.

“Defense is my heart,” Vaughn said. “It’s one of the reasons I came here. I’d rather play defense all day long.”

Stringer sees a bright future for her first legitimate center in some time.

“She has nothing but a tremendously huge upside,” Stringer said. “She’s got a nice touch, a great body. I think we will easily be able to have our team anchored from the inside out, and that will start with Kia Vaughn.”