Jan. 10, 2015

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

Box Score | Photo Gallery | VIDEO: Kahleah Copper Post-Game Interview

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The No. 24/23 Rutgers women's basketball team roared to a 71-51 victory over Penn State at the Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday afternoon. RU improved to an overall mark of 12-4 and 3-2 in Big Ten play.

Kahleah Copper (Philadelphia, Pa.) posted a season-high 23 points to lead the Scarlet Knights. Betnijah Laney (Clayton, Del.) poured in 18 points and nine rebounds, finishing just one rebound shy of her 12th double-double of the season. Tyler Scaife (Little Rock, Ark.) rounded out the double-figure scorers with 14 points in the victory.

While Syessence Davis (Neptune, N.J.) only had one point in the victory, the senior Scarlet Knight tied the school record with 10 steals and also added in eight assists with no turnovers. Her defensive effort was a large reason the Nittany Lions recorded 38 miscues in the contest.

Penn State was led by Lindsey Spann with 18 points in the loss. Sierra Moore followed with points, while Candice Agee added in 10 of her own.

RU opened the game outscoring PSU 21-8 over the first ten minutes of play. Rutgers led by as many as 13 points in the opening stanza as they held a 31-19 edge with 2:31 left until the intermission.

With two-minutes left in the half, Penn State would find an 8-3 run to bring its deficit to six as Spann knocked down a three-pointer at the buzzer for the 35-29 Rutgers advantage to enter halftime.

The Lady Lions managed to pull within four, 39-35, two minutes into the second half. The Scarlet Knights responded, however, by holding PSU scoreless for over a four-minute span. An 8-0 Rutgers run expanded the Scarlet Knights lead to 47-35. Spann ended the run at the 14:20 mark, but it was not enough to get the PSU offense going.

RU would hold at least a 10-point advantage for the rest of the contest with the Lady Lions drawing no closer than a 55-45 deficit with 8:58 remaining.

The Scarlet Knights closed the contest with six uncontested points holding Penn State scoreless over the final 4:18 for the game's final mark.

The Rutgers women's basketball team returns home on Thursday, Jan. 15, hosting No. 12/10 Maryland. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. The game will air on BTN.

KNIGHT NOTES:
- Starting lineup was Kahleah Copper, Tyler Scaife, Syessence Davis, Christa Evans and Betnijah Laney. It was the first time this lineup was used. It was also Evans' first start of the 2014-15 season.
- Kahleah Copper notched a season-high 23 points after scoring only nine points in RU's win over Michigan on Wednesday. She surpassed her previous high of 22 against Iowa on Jan. 4. It was Copper's fourth 20+ point game of the season.
- Betnijah Laney narrowly missed out on her 12th double-double of the season finishing with 18 points and nine rebounds.
- Rounding out the double figure scorers was Tyler Scaife with 14 points.
Scaife has reached double figure scoring in 41 of 52 career appearances.
- Syessence Davis had just one point off a free throw, but contributed a school record tying 10 steals along with eight assists and no turnovers.
- Davis' 10 steals ties the school record along with Denise Kenney, who also had 10 thefts against St. Joseph's on Feb. 16, 1978. Davis also surpassed her previous high of eight captured against Davidson on Nov. 30.
- It was Davis' fifth game of the season with five or more steals.
- Davis has logged seven games this season with five or more assists. She has handed the ball out five or more times in 33 games in her career.
- Davis has committed no turnovers five times this season. She has only mishandled the ball more than twice in a game in 14 of RU's 16 games to date.
- Rutgers recorded 22 steals against Penn State, one theft shy of the Rutgers single game record. The Scarlet Knights set the record with 23 steals against Temple on Jan. 17, 1987.
- Penn State committed 38 turnovers the most turnovers by an opponent since Farmingdale State registered 32 miscues on Feb. 11, 2009. It was the third time since 2002-03 that an opponent has had 30 or more turnovers in a game.
- The Lady Lions' 38 turnovers resulted in season-high 36 points for the Scarlet Knights.
- Rutgers was outrebounded 40-33, marking only the third time this season an RU opponent has won the battle of the boards.
- RU opponents are averaging 20.8 turnovers per game. Penn State was the 11th opponent to turn the ball 20 or more times.
- The Scarlet Knight shot 82.4 percent (14-of-17) from the free throw line, the fourth time in 2014-15 RU has shot 80 percent or better from the charity stripe. In the last three games, Rutgers has gone 42-of-51 from the line to shoot at a 82.4 clip.
- RU held a 35-29 halftime edge. The Scarlet Knights have led at the intermission in all but two of its 16 games played to date.

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