Feb. 5, 2015
Box Score | VIDEO: Postgame Press Conference
PISCATAWAY, NJ. - Rutgers women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer became the Big Ten's all-time winningest basketball coach as the No. 21/22 Scarlet Knights defeated No. 19/18 Nebraska, 46-43, on Thursday night at the RAC.
The Scarlet Knights, winners of their last five straight, improved to an overall record of 17-5 and a conference mark of 8-3. It marked the third top 25 victory for RU who previously defeated then-No. 25 Arkansas in December and then-No. 21 Minnesota on Jan 25.
In addition to 169 wins during her tenure at Iowa, Coach Stringer's eight conference wins pushed her total to 177 league victories. The Hall of Fame coach moved past former Penn State head coach Rene Portland's 176 wins.
Betnijah Laney (Clayton, Del.) led the stat sheet for Rutgers with 16 points and 14 rebounds en route to her 15th double-double of the season. Tyler Scaife (Little Rock, Ark.) poured in 12 points of her own in the win.
Nebraska was without the services of starting point guard Rachel Theriot. The Cornhuskers' Tear'a Laudermill paced the squad with 16 points, followed by Emily Cady with 13 in the loss.
Rutgers opened the night with seven uncontested points, holding Nebraska scoreless for nearly the first four minutes of play, and raced out to an 11-2 advantage with 14:56 to go.
A three-pointer from Laudermill would ignite a 7-0 run for Nebraska, cutting its deficit to five points, 17-12, its closest margin of the half with 7:15 left.
Holding Nebraska to 6-of-34 shooting from the field, a season-low for the Huskers, Rutgers would take a 26-17 edge into halftime.
Nebraska kicked off the second half with seven consecutive points to pull within two, 26-24, with 16:12 to go. Laney, however, knocked down two free throws to shift the momentum back in RU's direction.
The Scarlet Knights would outscore the Huskers 12-4 to expand its lead to 38-28 at the 9:21 mark. Nebraska's Cady registered a bucket from beyond the arc to end the run, but on Rutgers' following trip down the court, Scaife added on a jumper as RU led 40-31 with 7:01 remaining.
Scaife's basket was not enough to stump the Huskers as they pulled within four, 44-41, with under a minute to go. Despite the burst from Laudermill from the three-point range to keep the Cornhuskers within striking distance, Laney knocked in two free throws and denied a trio of late three-point attempts to seal the win.
The Rutgers women's basketball team hits the road for its next two games. RU closes out the season series with Michigan in Ann Arbor on Sunday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. and with Maryland in College Park on Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 9 p.m.
KNIGHT NOTES:
- Starting line-up of Kahleah Copper, Tyler Scaife, Syessence Davis, Christa Evans and Betnijah Laney was used for the fourth time and for the third straight game.
- Rutgers improved to 3-4 against the top 25 this season and 2-4 at home against nationally ranked teams.
- Nebraska without the services of starting point guard Rachel Theriot. - The Cornhuskers finished the game 15-of-68 (22.1 %), the lowest shooting percentage of any Scarlet Knight opponent this season. The previous low was 28.1 percent (18-of-64) by Arkansas on Dec. 7.
- Nebraska started the game 1-of-14 from the field and ended the first half shooting 6-of-34 (17.6 percent). It was the lowest first half shooting percentage by an RU opponent this season. Previously, the lowest first half shooting percentage was Tennessee on Dec. 14 - 7-of-39 (17.9 percent).
- RU led 26-17 at the half. It was the fewest first half points for the Cornhuskers this season. Their previous low was when Nebraska trailed 24-22 against Bakersfield on Dec. 13.
- Additionally, it was the fewest first half point allowed by the Scarlet Knights. Davidson scored just 17 points in the Nov. 30 meeting as RU led 55-17 at the intermission.
- Nebraska's 44 total points tied for the fewest points by an opponent in a game this season. The Scarlet Knights won 60-44 vs. Colgate on Nov. 28 and 100-44 vs. Davidson on Nov. 30.
- Betnijah Laney posted her 15th double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds and has captured double figure rebounding and scoring in four of the last five games. It also marked her 30th career double-double. Laney collected 15 double-doubles last season.
- With her 16 points, Laney moves into 22nd on RU's all-time scoring leaders list surpassing Julie Salmon (1982-86). With 1,227 career points, she needs 20 more points to move into 21st all-time past Tammy Sutton-Brown (1997-01).
- Tyler Scaife added in 12 points in the win marking the 46th time in her 58 career appearance she has reached double figures. She is averaging 18.4 points per game against nationally ranked opponents this season.
- Rutgers finished with a season-high 10 blocks. The previous high in blocks was nine vs. St. Joseph's (Nov. 14), Temple (Dec. 10) and Maryland (Jan. 25). Last time RU recorded 10 or more rejections in a game was against USF on March 3, 2014 when the Scarlet Knights registered 12 blocks. The Scarlet Knights had eight in the first half.
- Rachel Hollivay came off the bench for four blocks and now has 205 career rejections. It was her 11th game this season and 34th of her career with three or more blocks.
- Hollivay also hauled in eight rebounds, her most on the boards since grabbing a season-high 12 at Indiana (Dec. 28).
- RU won the battle on the boards, 53-49, the 16th time in the Scarlet Knights' 22 games they have outrebounded an opponent.
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-RU- 