PISCATAWAY, N.J.- Junior Tyler Scaife (Little Rock, Ark.) scored the game-winning basket with two seconds remaining in the game as the Rutgers women's basketball team outlasted Northwestern in claiming a 61-59 win on Wednesday night at the RAC.

Trailing 59-56, Scaife knocked in a three-pointer to tie the game with less than a minute remaining to tie the game for the ninth time. After the Wildcats' Maggie Lyon responded with a three-pointer, senior Briyona Canty (Willingboro, N.J.) drained a three-pointer of her own to tie the game, 59-59, with 11 seconds on the clock. On the following Northwestern possession, Rutgers' all-time blocks leader senior Rachel Hollivay (Columbus, Miss.) knocked away the potential go ahead bucket by Nia Coffey. Classmate Kahleah Copper (Philadelphia, Pa.) came up with the rebound to set up a layup from Scaife to hand RU the win.

RU improved to a record of 15-10 overall and a 6-7 mark in Big Ten action, while NU fell to 14-11 overall and 3-9 in the league.

Scaife posted a game-high 24 points, while Copper added in 20 points and eight rebounds. Hollivay registered a game-best six blocks in the win.

Northwestern was led by Coffey and Lyon with 19 points each. Christen Inman followed with 11 points of her own to round out the double-figure scorers.

Rutgers kicked off the game with an 8-2 lead across the first three minutes of play. Northwestern then responded with six uncontested points to tie the score, 8-8, with 3:05 to go in the first quarter. While Copper ended a nearly a four minute scoring drought to maintain the RU edge, 10-8, with under a minute left in the frame, the Wildcats' Lyon drained a three-pointer to give Northwestern the lead, 11-10, at the end of the first.

Northwestern maintained its late surge moving into the second quarter, outscoring RU 9-4 to generate a 20-14 lead by the 6:29 mark. It was a three-point play from Copper that turned the momentum back to RU. Scaife followed three-pointer to knot the score, 20-20, as Copper added on five consecutive points to return the lead to RU, 25-20, with a minute left in the first half.

Although two free throws from NU's Christen Inman would stop the run, the Scarlet Knights held onto a 27-24 advantage entering the locker room at halftime.

Despite the Wildcats tying the score 29-29 at the start of the third quarter, Rutgers generated a 7-0 burst, capped by three straight points from Scaife, to expand its lead to 36-29. A back-and-fourth battle played out on the court, as the Wildcats managed to the tie the score, 38-38, midway through the frame.

The score would be knotted on three more occasions as RU denied NU's threat to take the lead, keeping the scoreboard balanced 44-44 at the end of the third quarter.

A jumper from Lyon would put Northwestern up 46-44 after failing to claim the edge in its three attempts prior, but not for long as Hollivay tied the count for the fourth time across the last five minutes of play. Although a three-pointer from Coffey kept the edge for the Wildcats, a jumper from Scaife backed by a three-pointer from Copper put the Scarlet Knights back in front, 51-49 with 8:01 remaining in the game.

Northwestern countered with back-to-back three-pointers from Coffey and Lyon to create the largest lead, 55-51, for either team since the 6:23 mark in the third quarter. The Wildcats would extend their lead to 56-51 on a free throw from Jonas, but Copper countered with a layup to bring the margin within three with 1:44 to go in the game setting up the dramatic final moments.

The Rutgers women's basketball team is on the road again traveling to Illinois on Saturday, Feb. 13. The matchup with the Fighting Illini will air on BTN at 6 p.m. (ET).

KNIGHT NOTES:
- Rutgers was tied at the end of three quarters of play for the third time this season and improved to 2-1 when tied entering the fourth quarter. RU was tied with #18 Michigan State and in the second meeting with Nebraska with both games knotted at 40-40 heading into the fourth quarter. The Spartans went on to capture a 59-48 victory, while RU secured a 66-56 victory over Nebraska.
- RU ended the game with two Scarlet Knights with 20 points or more for the second time this season. Rutgers last had two 20-point performers in a game in the season opener against St. Joseph's Nov. 13.
- With her 20 points, Kahleah Copper moved into seventh on the all-time scoring leaders list surpassing Tanya Hansen (1988-92). She now has 1,697 points and needs three more points to become the seventh Scarlet Knight with over 1,700 career points and 66 more points to move into sixth all-time past Caroline DeRoose (1990-94).
- For Copper it was her eighth game of the year with 20 or more points and 30th game of her career.
- In the last three games, Copper has averaged 23.7 points per game.
- With 24 points, Tyler Scaife moved into 12th all-time in scoring with 1,458 career points, surpassing Tasha Pointer (1997-01). She needs 43 more points to surpass June Olkowski (1978-82) for 11th all-time in scoring.
- It was Scaife's 11th game of the year with 20 or more points and 28th of her career.
- Rachel Hollivay tied her season-high with six blocks. She also had six rejections four other times this season in games with Iona (Dec. 9), LSU (Dec. 19), Minnesota (Dec. 31) and Michigan State (Jan. 19).
- In the last five games, Hollivay has averaged 5.2 blocks per game.
- Hollivay currently has 306 career blocks and now ranks third all-time - men or women - in the category. She moved up the list past men's basketball's James Bailey (1975-79).
- Rutgers went perfect from the line against the Wildcats, hitting all eight attempts from the charity stripe. It was the Scarlet Knights' best performance from the line since hitting 16-of-17 (94.1%) at Houston on Feb. 11, 2014.
- RU finished 5-of-13 from downtown marking the 11th game of the year with five or more made three-pointers in a game. In the last three games, Rutgers has averaged 5.3 made shots from beyond the arc and has shot 43.2% during that span.

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