It's Rutgers' intent to put the heat on with its full-court press.

Iowa knows a little something about turning things up and has three outstanding guards leading the way.

The No. 8 seed Hawkeyes face No. 9 Rutgers Saturday at 7:16 p.m. in the first round of the Sacramento Regional in the NCAA women's basketball tournament.

The Scarlet Knights enter with a 19-14 season record and are led by former Iowa coach C. Vivian Stringer.

"It was pretty much as expected," Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder told members of the press about her breakdown of Rutgers on film. "Great full-court press and a full-court defense. They are an up-tempo type of transition team. Going into this game, we know we are going to have to break the press."

Stringer was the Hawkeyes' head coach from 1983-95 and had a 269-84 mark.

"She put Iowa on the map, there's no doubt about that," Bluder said. "We're going against one of the best coaches in the business and we're proud of Vivian and we're proud of all the success that she has brought to our program."

Stringer's teams qualified for nine straight NCAA tournaments and made the Final Four in 1993.

"They have a real flair for the drama, don't they? There is a great story line and it should be interesting one way or the other," Stringer told press after Monday's pairings where announced. "Yeah, Iowa, I don't know anything about them other than probably of all the schools I would want to play, that's not the one because nothing good can come of it in my heart."

Senior guard Brittany Ray paces the Scarlet Knights with 14.2 points per game. She has 63 3-point baskets on the year, third most in school history.

While Ray is the only player averaging double figures for Rutgers, Iowa features the three-guard attack of Kachine Alexander, Jaime Printy and Kamille Wahlin - each is averaging between 14.5-15.5 ppg.

The trio has taken a squad that was in last place in the Big Ten on a run in which it has won 11 of its last 14.

"Really amazing it you think about it. We were 1-6 (in the Big Ten Conference) and now we're headed to California to play in the NCAAs," Printy said. "I just think it just goes to show we never gave up."

Alexander tops the team in scoring (15.5 rpg), rebounding (10.7), assists (3.6 apg) and steals (1.6 spg).

The 5-foot-9 Minneapolis native led the Big TEn is the top rebounding guard in the country.

"Game in and game out, we know she's going to be tough," Wahlin said. "Anything that happens where she can get knocked down ten times in a game she's going to get back up. She's just got that mentality of being tough. We always know she's going to get back up and she's so tough that it just rubs off on all of us."

Printy is second on team at 14.9 points per game and owns the Hawkeye freshman records for scoring, 3-pointers made and assists.

Point guard Wahlin runs the show and scores 14.5 points per game. Her 2.6 3-pointers made per game are tops in the Big Ten.

The Iowa-Rutgers winner advances to face No. 1 Stanford or No. 16 UC Riverside Monday. The Scarlet Knights own the second-longest active streak of Sweet 16 trips at five.