WBB Opens Season at St. Joseph's on Friday
Nov 10 | Women's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers women's basketball team begins the 2015-16 season with two -straight road games starting with a meeting at St. Joseph's on Friday night at 5 p.m. at Hagan Arena.
| Game One: Rutgers (0-0, 0-0 Big Ten) at St. Joseph's (0-0, 0-0 A10) | |
| Date | Friday, Nov. 13 |
| Time | 5:00 p.m. EST |
| Location | Philadelphia, Pa. | Michael J. Hagan Arena |
| Video | A10 Live |
| Radio | WRSU 88.7 FM (Sean Griffin & Dominick Savino) |
| Live Stats | Live Stats |
| Game Notes | Rutgers | St. Joseph's |
| Conference Game Notes | Big Ten | Atlantic 10 |
| Statistics | Rutgers | St. Joseph's |
KICKING OFF 2015
The Scarlet Knights welcome back eight letterwinners and three starters from a season ago including Preseason All-Big Ten honoree, senior forward Kahleah Copper, and 2015 Big Ten Honorable Mention selection, junior guard Tyler Scaife.
Copper led the team for a second straight season and poured in 16.3 points per game as a junior last season. Scaife is RU's other returning double figure scorer with 14.8 points per game during the 2014-15 campaign.
Along with four true freshmen on the roster, Rutgers also welcomed three new assistant coaches during the off season. Patrolling the sidelines with hall of fame head coach C. Vivian Stringer are Timothy Eatman, Kelley Gibson and Ervin Monier. Eatman, who has previously coached alongside Stringer at Iowa, joins the Scarlet Knights from Rhode Island. Gibson comes "To The Banks" from Syracuse while Monier joins the program from La Salle.
ABOUT ST. JOSEPH'S
The Hawks finished at 13-17 overall with an 8-8 Atlantic 10 record last year. St. Joseph's reached the Atlantic 10 quarterfinals.
This season, the Hawks were picked seventh in the A10 Preseason Poll, returning three starters and 11 letterwinners.
Senior guard Ciara Andrews, a Preseason Third Team All-Atlantic 10 pick, averaged a team-leading 13.0 points per game, which included dropping in 19 points on the Scarlet Knights in their meeting last season.
St. Joseph's also returns senior forward Sarah Fairbanks, who closed out last year at 10.5 points per game along with a team-leading 6.1 rebounds per game.
LAST TIME VS. ST. JOSEPH'S
The No. 24 Rutgers women's basketball team opened its inaugural season as a member of the Big Ten cruising to a 76-52 win over St. Joseph's on Nov. 14, 2014.
Tyler Scaife led all scorers with 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor.
In all, four Scarlet Knights reached double figures in the 2014-15, including Briyona Canty with 16 points and eight assists. Kahleah Copper also added in 14 points.
With the score tied at 16-16 midway through the first half, Scaife connected on three free throws and Copper had a put back to give the Scarlet Knights an advantage for good. Over the course of the final seven minutes of the opening stanza, RU outscored the Hawks, 14-8, to take a 30-24 lead into the half.
While St. Joseph's knocked down two early jumpers to cut its deficit down to three to start off second half play, Rutgers would go on to shoot a blistering 62 percent from the floor in the half.
After the Hawks' Ciara Andrews shrunk the Scarlet Knights' lead to 30-27, only three minutes later, RU would have a double-digit lead it would never relinquish the rest of the way.
Scaife, who in the second half went 6-of-6 from the field, gave RU a 40-29 edge with 15:09 to go and the Scarlet Knights' edge would only increase.
Andrews finished with 19 points in the loss for St. Joseph's. Sarah Fairbanks, the Hawks' returning leading scorer, added 16 in the loss.
BACK TO THE BIG DANCE
The Rutgers women's basketball team returned to the NCAA Tournament advancing to the second round of tournament action last season. RU, made its 24th overall NCAA Tournament appearance and first since the 2012 campaign, was an at-large selection, receiving a No. 8 seed.
Rutgers captured a 79-66 victory over in-state and former BIG EAST rival Seton Hall in first round action before its dancing was halted in the second round by the tournament's top overall seed and eventual national champions, Connecticut.
WELCOME TO THE B1G TIME
Rutgers began its first season of Big Ten play in 2014-15 as the Scarlet Knights finished with a 12-6 ledger and tied for fourth in the league.
Head coach C. Vivian Stringer was no stranger to the Big Ten and in fact became the league's winningest women's basketball coach. A 46-43 Scarlet Knight victory over Nebraska on Feb. 5, 2015 gave the hall of fame coach her 177th Big Ten victory.
WATCH LIST
Junior guard Tyler Scaife was among watch list members during the 2014-15 season.
Scaife was added to the Dawn Staley and Naismith Mid-Season Watch Lists. The Dawn Staley award is given to the most outstanding collegiate guard in the country and the Naismith Trophy is given annually by the Atlanta Tip-Off Club to the top collegiate player.
GETTING TO THE POINTS
Rutgers enjoyed one of its highest scoring average under C. Vivian Stringer's 20-year tenure "On the Banks"
Top RU Scoring Averages Under C. Vivian Stringer
1. 70.0 (35 games) 1998-99 - 29-6 - Elite Eight
2. 68.7 (33 games) 2014-15 - 23-10 - Second Round
3. 68.7 (32 games) 1997-98 - 22-10 - Sweet 16
4. 67.3 (29 games) 2002-03 - 21-8 - 2nd Round
5. 66.2 (37 games) 2013-14 - WNIT CHAMPIONS
SHINING COPPER
Kahleah Copper, a Second Team All-Big Ten selection by both the media and coaches, led the Scarlet Knights in scoring for a second-straight season. She averaged 16.3 points per game and 17.4 against conference opponents.
Copper scored in double figures in 28 of RU's 33 games, all but five games. She reached the 20+ point mark 11 times including five of the last nine contests. In the final five games of the regular season, she averaged 20.8 points per contest.
Copper was also known as the go to Scarlet Knight. On Jan. 29 in the 76-65 win at Purdue, Copper poured in a game-high 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting (47.1 percent) from the field. After the Boilermakers took a lead at 30-28 with 16:58 to go, Copper rattled off eight straight points to return the lead to Rutgers for good.
On Feb. 1 vs. Penn State, Copper reset her season-high with 25 points, shooting 10-of-19 from the floor (52.6 percent). She scored 17 of her 25 points in the second half. Penn State would tie the contest 48-48 with 8:41 to play, however, Copper added on a free throw to give Rutgers the lead the rest of the way and would score 10 of her game-high 25 points during this final span.
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
Tyler Scaife was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten by both the media and coaches in her second year "On The Banks" after earning American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year the previous season. Scaife averaged 14.8 points per game as a sophomore.
On Jan. 25 against No. 21 Minnesota, Scaife was one-point shy of her career-high by pouring in a season-high 28 points against the Golden Gophers.
Scaife led the team in scoring 12 times during the course of the 2014-15 campaign and has reached double figure scoring in 56 of her 70 career appearances.
Not shy around nationally ranked competition, Scaife has averaged 15.9 points per game against the top 10, which included 25 points in the Scarlet Knights' double overtime contest with No. 6 UNC on Dec. 4.
DOUBLE DISHING
Briyona Canty tied her career-high in assists for a second time as she dished the ball out 10 times in RU's 63-52 second round Big Ten Tournament win over Indiana.
Canty also had 10 assists in RU's win over Northeastern on Nov. 18, marking the first double-digit assist game for a Scarlet Knight since Syessence Davis dished out the ball 10 times against Providence on Jan. 16, 2013.
Canty registered five or more assists in 15 of her 29 games last year.
In addition to her 10 assists in the opening Big Ten Tournament game with Indiana, she also handed the ball out six times in the quarterfinal against Northwestern to average 8.0 assists during post-season play.
DOWNTOWN
Cynthia Hernandez finished with a season-high 17 points at Wisconsin on Jan. 18, surpassing her previous high of nine captured against Davidson (Nov. 30) and Indiana (Dec. 28). She shot a blistering 5-of-5 from downtown.
Hernandez's five made three-pointers were the most by a Scarlet Knight since Erica Wheeler drained five three-pointers against Connecticut on March 7, 2011. Her five three's tied a Kohl Center record originally set by Lori Bjork of Illinois on Jan. 15, 2006.
As a team, the Scarlet Knights hit a season-high six three-point shots at Iona on Dec. 20, the most since hitting seven shots from downtown against Louisville on Jan. 18, 2013.
In 2013-14, Briyona Canty had the most three-point field goals made by a Scarlet Knight, connecting on 13 from beyond the arc over the course of the Scarlet Knights' 37 games. This season, after 33 games played in 2014-15, Hernandez sunk 25 three pointers.
BLOCK PARTY
Rachel Hollivay closed out 2014-15 with 220 career blocks, ranking fifth all-time at Rutgers.
Rachel Hollivay captured a season-high six rejections in RU's game with No. 8 Maryland on Jan. 15. She also swatted away five Hawk shots in RU's season opener and then again in the Scarlet Knights' first road game at LSU.
Hollivay has registered 37 games with three or more blocks.
Hollivay ended last year with 127 rejections and is third (men or women) in blocks in a single season. Only Hamady Ndiaye (2009-10) and Roy Hinson (1982-83) on the men's side have blocked more shots in a single season, swatting away 145 and 144, respectively.
PROTECTING HOMECOURT
The Scarlet Knights have had an outstanding track record of success at home. The Scarlet Knights went 11-4 at home in 2014-15, with all four setback against the nation's top 25.
Since the 2002-03 season, the Scarlet Knights have gone 161-29 (.847) at the RAC. In this last five years, RU has put together a record of 63-13 (.829) at the RAC.
100 POINTS
The Scarlet Knights managed to do one thing no C. Vivian Stringer led Rutgers team has managed to do in her 20 years "On The Banks" - On Nov. 30, 2015 against Davidson , RU scored 100 points in a game.
RU defeated Davidson 100-44 on Nov. 30, marking the Scarlet Knights first 100-point game since a 100-71 victory over West Virginia back on Jan. 4, 1995, the year prior to Coach Stringers arrival on the Banks of the Raritan.
The Scarlet Knights also managed in feat in a not-so-common way as well. JUCO transfer Cynthia Hernandez was fouled as her three-point attempt sailed through the net. She then sunk her free throw attempt for a four-point play and the 100th point of the game.
TURNOVERS
Scarlet Knight opponents averaged 19.0 miscues per game, which included 38 turnovers by Penn State on Jan. 10.
PSU's mishandling of the ball 38 times in the first meeting marked 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 a season-high 36 points for the Scarlet Knights. Only Arkansas on Dec. 7, has managed to record single digit turnovers.
Fifteen opponents committed 20 or more turnovers against the Scarlet Knights.
UP NEXT
The Rutgers women's basketball team meets up with Seton Hall in a rematch of the 2015 NCAA First Round game. The Scarlet Knights and Pirates tip off on Monday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. at Walsh Gymnasium in South Orange, N.J.
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-RU-
