Feb 20 | Women's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers women's basketball team hosts No. 6 Maryland in the annual PINKOUT/Play4Kay game on Sunday at 3 p.m. The game will air on ESPN2 with Bob Picozzi and Stephanie White on the call. The first 500 fans will receive a free Rutgers pink t-shirt.
| Game Twenty Eight : Rutgers (16-11, 7-8 B1G) vs. #6/6 Maryland (24-3, 13-2 B1G) | |
| Date | Sunday, Feb. 18 |
| Time | 3:00 p.m. EST |
| Location | The RAC | Piscataway, N.J. |
| TV | ESPN2 (Bob Picozzi & Stephanie White) |
| Radio | Rutgers IMG Radio Network - WCTC 1450 AM (Ralph Bednarczyk) WRSU 88.7 FM (Alex Esposito & Andrew Fafalios) |
| Live Stats | |
| Game Notes | Rutgers | Maryland |
| Conference Game Notes | Big Ten |
| Statistics | Rutgers | Maryland |
| Tickets | ScarletKnights.com/Tickets |
| Promotions | Play4Kay PinkOut 500 Pinkout Shirts to First 500 Fans Postgame Foul Shots |
B1G TIME BATTLE
The Rutgers women's basketball team heads into its final three games of the regular season slate looking to return to the win column following a heartbreaking 70-67 setback to No. 25/22 Michigan State on Thursday night.
Although Rutgers held a 10-point cushion midway into the fourth quarter, the Spartans capitalized on a late surge from the three-point range and success at the charity stripe to hold off the Scarlet Knights.
Junior Tyler Scaife led the Scarlet Knights with 22 points, marking her 12th 20+ scoring game of the season. Senior Kahleah Copper added in 11 points, while redshirt-senior Briyona Canty contributed a season-high 12 of her own to round out the double-figure scorers.
Classmate Rachel Hollivay nearly posted her second consecutive double-double with 10 rebounds to go along with a season-best eight blocks enroute to setting the new Big Ten record in single season blocks.
ABOUT MARYLAND
The Terps, who currently sit in second place behind Ohio State in the Big Ten standings, come to New Jersey at 24-3 overall and 13-2 in the league.
Maryland has won three-straight including a 76-56 victory in their last contest against Michigan on Wednesday night. Additionally, the Terps have won 12 of their last 13 games with the lone loss in that span being an 94-86 setback to the Buckeyes.
The Terps are scoring a league second best 84.8 points per game and will be meeting a Rutgers squad that boasts the Big Ten's best defense that allows the opposition only 58.4 points per meeting. Maryland is allowing opponents to shoot .358 from the field, leading the Big Ten in field goal defense, while the Scarlet Knights are right on their heels allowing opponents to shoot just .370 from the floor, second best in the Big Ten.
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough leads Maryland and is seventh in the Big Ten in scoring at 19.3 points per game . Walker-Kimbrough also leads the nation in three-point field goal shooting percentage at a .571 clip.
Two other Terps are averaging double digits on the season. Brionna Jones, the nation's leader in field goal percentage at .674 percent, is adding in 15.2 points per game to go along with her team-leading 9.6 rebounds per game. Brene Mosely meanwhile is contributing 11.9 points per contest.
LAST TIME VS. MARYLAND
The No. 18/17 Rutgers women's basketball team dropped a suspenseful rematch with No. 5/5 Maryland, falling 80-69 on Feb. 10 at the Xfinity Center.
Betnijah Laney led the Scarlet Knights with a game-high 22 points. Kahleah Copper followed with 19 points, while Tyler Scaife rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 points in the loss.
Maryland had four players in double digits. Lexie Brown led the way with 19 points, nine of which came from beyond the arc. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough added in 17 points, Malina Howard notched 15 points and Laurin Mincy closed the group with 14 points in the win.
The Scarlet Knights established a 17-12 edge with 12:13 left in the first half, however Maryland would go on to score 10-straight points to take over the lead and take off on a 21-4 run.
While the Terps held a 12-point advantage, leading 35-23 with 2:49 remaining until the intermission, the Scarlet Knights found a burst in the final minutes of the half. RU scored six-uncontested points to cut its deficit in half, 35-29.
Maryland, however, closed out the half with a jumper from Walker-Kimbrough at the buzzer to give the Terps a 37-29 lead as the teams entered halftime.
The second half continued to be a game of runs. Maryland expanded its lead to 41-31 as less than two minutes of second half expired. Rutgers found a spark though with a 6-0 run to pull within four, 41-37, with 16:08 left on the clock. The Scarlet Knights created themselves its closest margin since early in the first stanza.
Over the next six minutes of play, the Terps would lead by as many as nine points, but Shrita Parker nailed two free throws to close the gap to 52-48 with 11:56 remaining.
On Maryland's return down the court, Brown notched a three-pointer, sending the Terps on an 11-2 run to establish a 63-50 edge with nine minutes left.
Rutgers once again did not let up as the Scarlet Knights outscored the Terps, 10-4, including five straight from Copper, over the next two and a half minutes to pull within seven, 67-60. However, that would be the closest RU would draw for the remainder of the night.
Back-to-back three-pointers from Brown gave the Terps its largest margin of the night, a 75-60 lead with 3:44 left on the clock.
BLOCK PARTY
With her season-high eight rejections against No. 25/22 Michigan State Thursday night, Rachel Hollivay brought her season total to 98 rejections in the 2015-16 season to date.
Three games ago Hollivay had five blocks to become the first Rutgers women's basketball player with 300 career blocks.
Her feat was on the heels of collecting five blocks on Feb. 4 at Minnesota, to become RU women's basketball's all-time career shot blocks leader surpassing legend and former WNBA standout Sue Wicks (1984-88).
In the last seven, games, Hollivay has averaged 5.4 blocks per game
Hollivay currently ranks third among all Division I players with her 98 blocks on the year.
She also ranks second all-time among all Rutgers basketball student-athletes in career blocked shots. Only Hamady Ndiaye (2006-10) (358) and Roy Hinson (1979-83) (355) on the men's side have more career blocks.
Hollivay ended her sophomore season with 127 rejections which ranks her third (men or women) in blocks in a single season. Only Hamady Ndiaye (2009-10) and Roy Hinson (1982-83) on the men's side have blocked more shots in a single season, swatting away 145 and 144, respectively.
All-Time RU WBB Career Blocked Shots
1. Rachel Hollivay (2012-present) - 318
2. Sue Wicks (1984-88) - 293
3. Kia Vaughn (2005-09) - 279
4. LaTonya Johnson (1988-92) - 248
5. Tanya Hansen (1988-92) - 245
All-Time Rutgers Basketball - Men & Women - Career Blocked Shots
1. MBB - Hamady Ndiaye (2006-10) - 358
2. MBB - Roy Hinson (1979-83) - 355
3. WBB - Rachel Hollivay (2012-present) - 318
4. MBB - James Bailey (1975-79) - 304
5. WBB - Sue Wicks (1984-88) - 293
Rutgers Single Season Blocked Shots
1. Rachel Hollivay (2013-14) - 127
2. Rachel Hollivay (2015-16) - 98
3. Sue Wicks (1986-87) - 97
4. Kia Vaughn (2006-07) - 92
5. Sue Wicks (1987-88) - 77
6. Tanya Hansen (1990-91) - 75
7. LaTonya Johnson (1991-92) - 74
8. Rachel Hollivay (2014-15) - 71
9. Kia Vaughn (2005-06) - 68
10. Sue Wicks (1985-86) - 65
CRACKING THE TOP TEN
With her 17 points at Illinois on Saturday, Kahleah Copper became the seventh Scarlet Knight to crack the 1,700 career point mark.
Copper is currently seventh all-time in scoring at Rutgers surpassing Tanya Hansen (1988-92) last Wednesday against Northwestern.
Copper now has 1,725 points and needs 38 more points to move into sixth all-time past Caroline DeRoose (1990-94).
Teammate Tyler Scaife also continues to move up the scoring leaders list. With 24 points against Northwestern, she moved into 12th all-time surpassing Tasha Pointer (1997-01).
Scaife needs five more points to move up again into 11th all-time in scoring "On The Banks" past June Olkowski (1978-82) and 55 points to crack the top ten.
PROTECTING HOMECOURT
The Scarlet Knights have had an outstanding track record of success at home. The Scarlet Knights went 11-4 at home in 2014-15, with all four setbacks against the nation's top 25 and are 10-3 this season.
Since the 2002-03 season, the Scarlet Knights have gone 169-32 (.841) at the RAC. In this last five years, RU has put together a record of 78-16 (.830) at the RAC.
UP NEXT
Following Sunday's game the Scarlet Knights head off to Purdue for a matchup on Thursday, Feb. 25 and return home for senior day on Sunday, Feb. 28 against Michigan. Both games will be available on BTN.
Follow Rutgers women's basketball on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersWBB), Twitter (www.twitter.com/RutgersWBB) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/RutgersWBB) for all of the latest news and updates. Fans also receive timely information, including special offers and giveaways throughout the year on both social media outlets along with www.ScarletKnights.com.
-RU-
