WBB Topped By St. John's
Nov 19 | Women's Basketball
Box Score | RVISION: Postgame Press Conference | RVision: Highlights
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Despite a late surge in the fourth quarter and a game-high 23 points from junior Tyler Scaife (Little Rock, Ark.), the Rutgers women's basketball team was edged 69-62 by St. John's on Thursday night at the RAC.
Rutgers dropped to an overall record of 1-2 to start the year, while St. John's improved to a mark of 2-1.
Scaife paced RU with a game-high 23 points, including a flawless 9-of-9 showing at the free throw line. Senior forward Kahleah Copper (Philadelphia, Pa.) followed with 11 points, while redshirt senior guard Bryiona Canty (Willingboro, N.J.) capped the double-figure scorers with 10 points. Senior center Ariel Butts (Columbus, Ga.) notched a career-best 11 total rebounds in her first appearance of the season.
The Red Storm were led by Jade Walker with 20 points, as she shot 9-of-11 from the court. Aliyyah Handford followed with 18 points, while Danaejah Grant registered a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Rutgers got off to a slow start, as St. John's capitalized on an 8-0 run. Scaife ended the drought for RU, getting the Scarlet Knights on the board at the 3:43 mark in the first quarter. St. John's, however, responded by pulling away with a substantial advantage, leading by as many as 15 midway through the second quarter.
Trailing 25-10, the Scarlet Knights would go on to register nine uncontested points, carried by five points from Copper and four points from Scaife, bringing the score to 25-19 with six minutes left in the quarter.
St. John's went cold going 0-for-6 from the field, while Copper stayed hot, knocking down a three-pointer to turn what was once a 15-point deficit into a five point ballgame. On a 12-2 run, the Scarlet Knights trailed just 27-22 with 5:32 left until the intermission, but it was closest the Scarlet Knights would come.
St. John's finished out first half action outscoring RU, 7-2, and taking a 10-point edge, 34-24, into the locker room at the half.
After falling behind, 56-37, in the third quarter, Copper started off the fourth with a three-pointer, refueling the Scarlet Knight offense. Freshman guard Khadaizha Sanders (Kanakakee, Ill.) registered a three-pointer of her own to bring the deficit to 60-49 with 5:12 left in the game. Scaife joined in, registering RU's next six points, including a 4-for-4 performance at the charity stripe, to bring RU within nine at 64-55 at the 3:42 mark.
The junior guard continued to guide the squad, setting the margin at seven, 67-60, by knocking down a trio of free throws after being fouled from beyond the arc.
Despite outscoring the Red Storm, 25-13, in the fourth quarter, the late surge fell short as St. John's held off Rutgers in the game's final minute. The Scarlet Knight unfortunately would only generate one more field goal down the stretch enroute to the game's final margin.
The Rutgers women's basketball team returns to action on Sunday, Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. against Temple.
KNIGHT NOTES:
- The Scarlet Knights dropped to 35-7 in home openers, including a 16-5 mark under head coach C. Vivian Stringer. The loss to St. John's snapped a five-game home opener win streak.
- Tyler Scaife reached the 20+ point mark in a game for the second time this season. It was the 19th time in her career she surpassed 20 points in a game. On the season she is averaging 19.3 points per game.
- Scaife finished the night a perfect 9-of-9, including sinking three straight to pull RU within seven with under two minutes remaining in the game. Her mark was not her career high though as she sunk 10-of-10 against Delaware during the 2014 WNIT run. Scaife is currently a perfect 13-of-13 from the charity stripe this season.
- As a team, RU shot 12-of-14 from the free throw line hitting at a 85.7% clip.
- Ariel Butts set a new career mark in rebounds with 11 against the Red Storm. She reset her previous high of 10 set against Iowa last season.
- Khadaizha Sanders picked up her first career start as a Scarlet Knights.
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-RU-
