UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Rutgers women's basketball team roared to a 74-62 victory over Penn State on Super Bowl Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center. Five Scarlet Knights finished the contest in double figures.
RU improved to an overall mark of 14-10 and a Big Ten record of 5-7, while Penn State dropped to 8-15 overall and 3-9 in league action.
Senior Kahleah Copper (Philadelphia, Pa.) led the way for Rutgers with 20 points, her seventh 20-point scoring game of the season. Junior Tyler Scaife (Little Rock, Ark.) followed with 15 points, while senior Rachel Hollivay (Columbus, Miss.) contributed 13 points of her own. Redshirt senior Briyona Canty (Willingboro, N.J.) added in 11 points, nearly eclipsing a triple-double with nine assists and eight rebounds. Freshman Khadaizha Sanders (Kankakee, Ill.) tied her career-high with 11 points to round out the double-figure scorers.
Penn State had three Nittany Lions finish in double figures led by Teniya Page with 18 points. Lindsey Spann notched 13 points, while Brianna Banks contributed 12 points in the loss.
Scaife opened the afternoon's scoring with a three-pointer, as Rutgers coasted to a 12-4 lead by the 3:40 mark of the first quarter. Penn State's Candice Agee free throw ended the Nittany Lions four-minute scoring drought along with the Scarlet Knights' 7-0 run. Kahleah Copper responded with seven consecutive points to extend the RU advantage to 19-5 with 2:02 left in the first.
Penn State would briefly shut down Copper and the Scarlet Knights with six uncontested points of their own, including four from Banks at the charity stripe, to bring the gap to 19-11 moving into the second frame.
PSU continued its run into the second with a jumper from Teniya Page, however, Sanders drained a three-pointer to push RU's lead to 22-13.
A back-and-forth battle ensued on the court, as the Scarlet Knights outscored the Nittany Lions, 12-9, capped by a three-pointer from Canty to tie their largest lead of the first half at 34-22 with 3:29 left until halftime.
Although the battle continued, a jumper from Scaife as the time expired gave Rutgers a 36-26 advantage to carry into the break.
Rutgers started the third quarter with a 10-2 burst to push the Scarlet Knights ahead, 44-28. PSU's Lindsey Spann cut into the deficit with a three-pointer, however, Sanders countered with a three-pointer of her own to maintain the RU rhythm and set the score at 47-31 with 6:07 left in the quarter
The Scarlet Knights maintained at least a 10-point cushion for the remainder of the third, as Canty added in a jumper as the clock ran out to give RU a 55-43 advantage moving into the fourth quarter.
An 8-2 RU run extended the Scarlet Knight lead to 63-45, capped by a Scaife free throw with 5:40 to go in the game. Banks responded with two free throws to end a three-minute scoring drought for PSU. However, RU held its control, expanding its lead to the largest of the night at 69-49 with 3:02 remaining.
The Scarlet Knights would close the contest with at least a 12-point edge, leading by as many as 18 on three more occasions.
Up next, Rutgers returns home to host Northwestern on Wednesday, Feb. 10. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the RAC.
KNIGHT NOTES
- Rutgers earned its first win away from the RAC since a 54-43 victory over Green Bay, a team currently receiving votes in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today Poll, at the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas on Nov. 28.
- Five Scarlet Knights landed in double figures accomplishing the feat for the first time since Jan. 18, 2015 at Wisconsin. Four or more Scarlet Knights have registered double figures in a game five times this season.
- Kahleah Copper led all scorers with 20 points, her seventh game of the year and 29th of her career with 20 or more points.
- With her 20 points, Copper brought her career total of 1,677 and is six points shy of moving into seventh all-time at Rutgers in scoring and moving past Tanya Hansen (1988-92).
- Briyona Canty was just one assist and two rebounds shy of a triple double, last performed by a Scarlet Knight was Khadijah Rushdan in 2011 with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against Pittsburgh.
- Briyona Canty finished with nine assists, one shy of tying her career mark for a third time. She has captured 13 games with five or more assists this season and 34 games in her career. It was also the 19th time this season and 44th time in her career leading the Scarlet Knights in helpers.
- Khadaizha Sanders tied her career-high with 11 points last captured in RU's final nonconference win of the season against LSU on Dec. 19.
- Sanders also handed out four assists and in the last two games has averaged 5.5 assists per game.
- Rachel Hollivay had 13 points to go along with fivr blocks to increase her career rejections total to 300. She became the first Rutgers women's basketball player in history with 300 career blocks.
- Hollivay recorded her 15th contest of 2015-16 with three or more blocks and 52nd of her career. - RU hit five of its 10 attempts from beyond the arc against the Lady Lions marking the 10th game of the 2015-16 with five or more made three-pointers in a game.
- Rutgers shot 50% from downtown, its best effort from three-point range since going 6-of-12 in the first meeting with Ohio State on Jan. 10.
- The Scarlet Knights collected a season-high 36 points in the paint, surpassing the previous high of 34 in the victory over Illinois on Jan. 13.
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