Feb. 17, 2015 Box Score | VIDEO: Postgame Press Conference
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The No. 19/18 Rutgers women's basketball team steam rolled past Illinois, claiming an 80-56 victory on Tuesday night at the RAC en-route to its 20th win of the season.
The Scarlet Knights improve to an overall record 20-6 with an 11-4 mark in Big Ten play. The Fighting Illini fell to 13-14 overall and 4-11 in conference action.
Tyler Scaife (Little Rock, Ark.) paced the Scarlet Knight offense for the ninth time this season with a game-high 21 points. Kahleah Copper (Philadelphia, Pa.) followed with 16 points, while Betnijah Laney (Clayton, Del.) and Rachel Hollivay (Columbus, Miss.) poured in 14 points apiece.
Illinois was led by Ivory Crawford with 15 points in the loss. Kyley Simmons added 12 points to stat sheet, all of which were from beyond the arc. Brittany Carter registered 11 points, while Chatrice White posted 10 points to round out the double-figure scorers.
Rutgers and Illinois started the contest with a back-and-forth battle, trading the lead on multiple occasions. After nearly five minutes of play, the score was tied at 11-11, after which Rutgers found a spark, going on a 16-5 run to generate a 27-16 advantage with 7:39 on the clock.
The Fighting Illini, however, quickly scored back-to-back three pointers and a jumper by Crawford to pulled Illinois to within six, 32-26, with just over three minutes remaining until the intermission.
Thanks to a pair of steals by Copper and Syessence Davis (Neptune, N.J.), the Scarlet Knights were able to hold off Illinois for the remainder of the first half to carry a 36-28 advantage into halftime.
The Scarlet Knights opened the second half outscoring the Fighting Illini, 18-8, and established a 55-36 edge as the clock read 12:28 left.
Kyley Simmons knocked in a three-pointer in an attempt to stump the run, but Rutgers responded with nine-uncontested points, while holding Illinois scoreless for nearly five minutes of play. The run helped to develop RU's largest lead of the night, 64-39, with 7:40 left in the game.
The lead would only grow as the Scarlet Knights registered another four points straight to jump in front, 68-41, after only a minute had expired.
Rutgers maintained at least a 22-point edge over Illinois for the remainder of the contest. Despite the solid lead, the Scarlet Knights never let up as Cynthia Hernandez (Buena, Calif.) drained consecutive buckets from beyond the arc to keep the RU offense rolling en-route to the 24-point victory.
The Rutgers women's basketball team wraps up its road slate with two consecutive trips. The Scarlet Knights first stop at Michigan State on Sunday, February 22, for an ESPN2 contest followed by a trip to Northwestern on Thursday, Feb. 26 on BTN Plus.
KNIGHT NOTES:
- Rutgers starting lineup featured Rachel Hollivay, Kahleah Copper, Tyler Scaife, Briyona Canty and Betnijah Laney.
- RU captured its 29th 20-win season in school history and its 15th 20-win season under head coach C. Vivian Stringer.
- The 2014-15 version of the Rutgers women's basketball team was one of the fastest groups to reach the 20-win mark.
Fastest to 20 By Date:
1979-80 - Feb. 14
1980-81 - Feb. 14
2005-06 - Feb. 14
2013-14 - Feb. 15
2007-08 - Feb. 16
2014-15 - Feb. 17
- Four Scarlet Knights reached double figures for the 11th time this season.
- Tyler Scaife led RU with a game-high 21 points, her ninth 20+ point performance of the season and 16th of her career.
- Scaife continues to inch closer and closer to becoming the third Scarlet Knight this season and 36th Rutgers women's basketball student-athlete overall to notch 1,000 career points. With her 21 points, Scaife now has 939 career points.
- Kahleah Copper dropped in 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting (55.6 percent) and a 6-of-8 night at the line. In the last two games, Copper has gone 17-of-26 (65.4 percent). She has shot 50 percent or better in 11 games this season.
- Betnijah Laney added in 14 points and is now four points away from cracking 1,300 career points. Against the Illini she moved into 17th all-time in scoring with 1,296 career points surpassing Patti Sikorski (1976-80) and Khadijah Rushdan (2007-12). She needs 34 more points to move past Kia Vaughn (2005-09) into 16th.
- Laney also tied her career-high with seven assists. She has dished the ball out seven times in a game two other times this season, most recently at Michigan on Feb. 8.
- Rachel Hollivay tied her season high with 14 points. She also collected 14 points in the first meeting with Maryland on Jan. 15 and at Temple on Dec. 10.
- Hollivay went a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe, her best performance from the free throw line since going 5-of-5 at LSU on Nov. 22.
- Hollivay registered three blocks vs. the Fighting Illini. It was Hollivay's 13th game of the year and 36th time in her career with three or more rejections in a game.
- Syessence Davis notched seven assists vs. Illinois marking the 11th time this year and 37th time she has dished the ball out five or more times.
- Davis also committed no turnovers for the 10th time this year.
- With her five steals, Davis cracked the top ten single season performance in the category. She currently has 89 steals on the season and is tied with Epiphanny Prince (2006-07) for eighth on the list. She needs just two more thefts to move into seventh past Sue Wicks (1986-87).
- Davis also moved up the RU all-time steals leaders list. She moved into fourth on the all-time list with 278 career thefts past Matee Ajavaon (2004-08). She need 10 more steals to move into second all-time past Sue Wicks (1984-88) and Liz Hanson (1992-96) and 15 more to become the Scarlet Knights all-time leader surpassing Tasha Pointer (1997-01).
- Rutgers produced 36 points in the paint, the 17th time with 30 or more points on the inside. In the last two games, RU has averaged 33 points in the paint.
- For the second straight game and 13th contest this season an RU opponent has committed 20 or more miscues. Illinois turned the ball over 21 times and in the last two games Scarlet Knight opponents are averaging 21.5 mishandlings.
- The 21 Illinois turnovers resulted in 23 points the Scarlet Knights making it the 12th time this season RU has been able to score 20 or more points off opponent miscues. In the last two games, Rutgers has averaged 26 points off turnovers.
- The Scarlet Knights outrebounded the Fighting Illini 35-26 marking the 19th time in 26 games RU has won the battle of the boards.
- Ariel Butts hauled in seven rebounds to lead the Scarlet Knights, the first time this season she has led the team in the category. Over the last three games, Butts has averaged 7.3 boards per contest.
- As a team, RU shot the ball 23-of-58 (55.2 percent) marking the second straight game shooting over 50 percent from the field and the seventh time this season. It was Rutgers' best effort from the floor since shooting 56.1 percent (37-of-66) at Temple on Dec. 10.
- Rutgers entered halftime shooting a blistering 61.5 percent (16-of-26), its best first half shooting percentage since going 20-of-33 (60.6) in the win over Temple on Dec. 10.
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-RU-
