PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Despite four Scarlet Knights finishing with double figure scoring, the Rutgers women's basketball team found its eight-game home win streak halted by No. 7/7 Ohio State, suffering a 67-58 loss to the Buckeyes on Sunday afternoon at the RAC.
Despite a tightly contested first half that saw the score tied seven times with 10 lead changes, Ohio State took control of the lead in the third quarter outscoring the Scarlet Knights, 24-7, in the stanza. Rutgers used a late fourth quarter surge to cut the deficit to as little as eight, but it was not enough to surpass the top ten Buckeyes.
Rutgers fell to 12-8 overall and 3-5 in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes, meanwhile, improved to 15-4 overall and 7-1 in the league.
Senior Kahleah Copper (Philadelphia, Pa.) led RU with her eighth double-double of the season, registering 18 points and 13 rebounds. Sophomore Shrita Parker (Va. Beach, Va.) followed with a career-high 13 points, including a career-high four three-pointers. Junior Tyler Scaife (Little Rock, Ark.) and redshirt senior Briyona Canty (Willingboro, N.J.) rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points apiece.
Ohio State was paced by Kelsey Mitchell with a game-high 22 points, including 12 points from beyond the arc. Ameryst Alston and Alexa Hart followed with 15 points each in the win.
Copper opened the scoring for the Scarlet Knights, igniting a back-and-forth battle on the hardwood as the score would be tied on five occasions with three lead changes in the game's first 10 minutes. With the score knotted at 14-14 and under two minutes to go in the first, OSU went on to establish a 19-15 edge. However, Scaife drained a layup as time expired to bring the score to 19-17 at the end of the first quarter of play.
Parker returned the lead to the Scarlet Knights, 20-19, with her second three-pointer of the night to start off the second quarter. The battle continued as RU and OSU traded points and the lead across the next four minutes of play. After neither side was able to create more than a one-point lead, Rutgers used four consecutive points to create a 26-23 advantage with 4:51 to go in the first half.
Ohio State responded with back-to-back three-pointers from Mitchell to give the Buckeyes a, 26-29, edge. Senior Briyona Canty (Willingboro, N.J.) ended the burst with a three-pointer of her own to bring the margin back to one, 29-28, with 2:39 to go.
Scaife kept things rolling for RU, returning the lead to the Scarlet Knights, 30-29, for the 10th lead change. A Buckeye free throw from Lisa Blair would knot the score for a seventh time as the teams entered the locker room for halftime knotted at 30-30.
The Buckeyes returned from the break with a 9-0 run before two free throws from Copper put a halt to the OSU run at the 4:24 mark of the third quarter. Copper's points from the charity stripe brought RU within seven, 39-32.
Ohio State continued to extend its lead to 46-32, but a Parker three-pointer immediately followed by a jumper from Canty, returned the momentum to RU and set the margin at 48-37 with under two minutes to go in the third frame. A 6-0 run by the Buckeyes gave Ohio State its largest lead of the afternoon and saw the Scarlet Knights trail, 54-37, heading into the fourth and final quarter.
Rutgers used a 9-2 run to cut the margin to 10 points, 56-46, with 6:45 remaining in the contest. Down the stretch however, Ohio State would lead by as many as 12. Parker nailed her fourth bucket from beyond the arc, to diminish the gap to single digits, 60-51 with 4:53 to go.
Up next, Rutgers travels to Indiana on Wednesday, Jan. 27 for a 7 p.m. matchup, before returning home to host Nebraska on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 2 p.m. ET.
KNIGHT NOTES:
- Victoria Harris earned her second career start and KK Sanders was a member of the starting five for the third time this season.
- The Scarlet Knights fell to 8-2 at the RAC in 2015-16 suffering its first loss since a 69-62 loss to St. John's on Nov. 19.
- Rutgers finished with four in double figures for the third time this year. RU is 1-2 with four or more in double digit scoring.
- Kahleah Copper posted her eighth double-double of the year with 18 points and 13 rebounds. It was her 13th double-double of her career.
- Shrita Parker ended the game with a career-high 13 points including a 4-of-7 effort from downtown. She resets her previous high of 12 captured against LSU in the nonconference finale on Dec. 19.
- Tyler Scaife reached double-digit scoring for the 14th straight game with her 11 points.
- Briyona Canty contributed 11 points scoring in double digits for the first time since RU's victory over Wisconsin on Jan. 7.
- Canty also dished the ball out five times, the 11th time this year and 32nd time in her career with five or more helpers.
- Ohio State's 67 were the fewest points scored by the Buckeyes in Big Ten play this season and fewest since netting only 56 in a 100-56 loss to No. 1 UConn on Nov. 16. OSU came into the game averaging 87.0 points per game and had put up at least 90 points in four of its last five outings.
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