WBB Welcomes Wildcats on Wednesday
Feb 09 | Women's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers women's basketball team hosts Northwestern at the RAC on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. Epiphanny Prince, former Scarlet Knight and New York Liberty All-WNBA standout, will be in the lobby to sign autographs prior to tipoff.
| Game Twenty Five : Rutgers (14-10, 5-7 Big Ten) vs. Northwestern (14-10, 3-9 Big Ten) | |
| Date | Wednesday, Feb. 10 |
| Time | 7:00 p.m. EST |
| Location | The RAC | Piscataway, N.J. |
| Video | BTN Plus (Lou Brogno & Cathy Andruzzi) |
| Radio | Rutgers IMG Radio Network - WCTC 1450 AM (Ralph Bednarczyk & Mark Peterson) WRSU 88.7 FM (Matt Salvatore & Nick Kosko) |
| Live Stats | |
| Game Notes | Rutgers | Northwestern |
| Conference Game Notes | Big Ten |
| Statistics | Rutgers | Northwestern |
| Tickets | ScarletKnights.com/Tickets |
| Promotions | Dollar Hot Dog Night Pregame: Epiphanny Prince Autograph Signing Halftime: Special Olympics Game |
WEDNESDAY WITH THE WILDCATS
The Rutgers women's basketball team will be looking to continue the momentum of Sunday's 74-62 victory over Penn State into Wednesday's matchup with Northwestern.
RU returned to the win column with a Super Bowl Sunday victory over the Lady Lions which saw five Scarlet Knights score in double figures for the first time since January of last season.
Kahleah Copper led the way with her seventh 20-point scoring game of the season bringing her six points shy of moving into seventh all-time in scoring. Meanwhile Briyona Canty was just one assist and two rebounds shy of a triple double and ended the game with 11 points and nine assist, one helper shy of her career high.
Also in double figures were Tyler Scaife with 15, Rachel Hollivay with 13 and Khadaizha Sanders with a career-high tying 11 points.
Additionally, Rachel Hollivay swatted away five shots to become the first Rutgers women's basketball player with 300 career rejections.
ABOUT NORTHWESTERN
Northwestern makes its way to the RAC on Wednesday following a double overtime contest with Minnesota on Sunday afternoon with Minnesota edging out the Wildcats 112-106.
The loss dropped the Wildcats to 14-10 overall and 3-9 in conference play. Prior to Sunday's game with the Golden Gophers, Northwestern has snapped a five-game losing streak with a 69-59 victory at Illinois.
Nia Coffey leads the Wildcats at 20.3 points per game and 10.6 rebounds per game. She leads the Big Ten in rebounding and is fifth in scoring.
Maggie Lyon is Northwestern's second leading scorer at 16.8 points per game and is also hauling in 6.0 rebounds per game. On Sunday against Minnesota, Lyon led the Wildcats with 31 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.
Rounding out the Wildcat double figure scorers are Christen Inman at 14.9 points per game and Ashley Deary at 13.4 points per game.
LAST TIME VS. NORTHWESTERN
The fifth-seeded Rutgers women's basketball team was topped by fourth-seeded Northwestern, 62-57, in a foul plagued quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament on March 6, 2015.
Kahleah Copper led the Scarlet Knights with 14 points. Tyler Scaife followed with 13 points, while Betnijah Laney added 12 points in the loss. Syessence Davis, meanwhile, became RU's all-time steals leaders surpassing Tasha Pointer for the number one spot all-time - men or women - "on the banks".
Northwestern had five Wildcats finish the game in double-figures. Maggie Lyon paced the squad with a game-high 15 points and 10 rebounds, including a 6-for-6 showing at the free throw line.
Rutgers started off the contest with six unchallenged points and kept the momentum going en route to a 12-4 lead by the 12:48 mark. Northwestern ended the run after nearly seven minutes of play had expired, however the Scarlet Knights continued to add to their lead.
RU continued to pull ahead, establishing a 30-15 advantage with 4:35 to go in the first half. The Wildcats responded with a 12-2 run, guided by nine points from the charity stripe to bring the score to 30-23 across the next two minutes of action.
RU denied the comeback by re-generating a 10-point cushion, 37-27, before heading into the locker room.
Fighting through a plethora of fouls, which saw Scaife, Syessence Davis and Ariel Butts all with three fouls apiece by the half, the Scarlet Knights continued an up-hill battle in the second half.
Northwestern opened the second stanza with seven straight points and outscored the Scarlet Knights, 12-2, to claim its first lead of the night at 40-39 with 15:19 remaining.
The Wildcats led by as many as 10 with 4:01 left in the contest, but the Scarlet Knight managed to whittle their deficit down to single digits in the closing minutes. Scaife closed the gap to seven, 61-54 with just over a minute to go. A free throw by Karly Roser pushed the Wildcat lead back up to eight but 30 seconds had been knocked off the clock. Laney fired off RU's final shot of the afternoon, sinking a three-pointer, for the game's final margin.
BLOCK PARTY
With five rejections in RU's last time out at Penn State, senior Rachel Hollivay became 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).
The senior Scarlet Knight leads the Big Ten with 79 rejections, ranking third among all Division I players and second on the Big Ten single season list.
She also ranks third all-time among all Rutgers basketball student-athletes in career blocked shots. Only Hamady Ndiaye (2006-10) (358), Roy Hinson (1979-83) (355) and James Bailey (1975-79) (304) 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) - 300
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. MBB - James Bailey (1975-79) - 304
4. WBB - Rachel Hollivay (2012-present) - 300
5. WBB - Sue Wicks (1984-88) - 293
CRACKING THE TOP TEN
With her 18 points against Ohio State on Jan. 30, Kahleah Copper became the ninth Scarlet Knight to collect over 1,600 career points.
She is currently eighth all-time in scoring at Rutgers surpassing Matee Ajavon (2004-08), a member of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream, last Saturday against Nebraska.
Copper needs six more points to move into seventh all-time "On The Banks" past Tanya Hansen (1988-92).
Teammate Tyler Scaife also continues to move up the scoring leaders list. With 16 points against the Golden Gophers last Thursday evening, she vaulted up two spots on the scoring leaders list past Liz Hanson (1992-06) and Kathy Glutz (1976-80) into 13th place.
Scaife currently has 1,419 career points needing 23 more points to slide into 12th all-time and 119 more points to crack the top 10.
A FIRST FOR FIVE
Rutgers had five in double figures in Sunday's Penn State victory, the first time this season the Scarlet Knights had five blocked reach double digits and the first time since Jan. 18, 2015 at Wisconsin.
In addition to Kahleah Copper's seventh 20-point scoring effort, Khadaizha Sanders tied her career-high with 11 points, which included a 3-of-4 effort from downtown. It was a new high in three-pointers made for the freshman. Sanders also had 11 points in RU's meeting with Iowa on Jan. 4.
TRIPLE DOG DARE YOU
Briyona Canty was nearing triple double territory with 11 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in Sunday's contest at Penn State.
The last triple double by a Scarlet Knight was last performed by Khadijah Rushdan in 2011 with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against Pittsburgh.
One other Scarlet Knight on the current roster has flirted with capturing a triple double. Rachel Hollivay nearly captured a triple-double against Howard on Nov. 22, 2013 with 26 points, 13 rebounds and nine blocks.
I GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS
After setting a new career mark with seven assists at Minnesota on Feb. 4, Khadaizha Sanders followed up her performance with four assists in RU's victory at Penn State on Sunday afternoon.
After totaling just one helper in the four games prior to the meeting with the Golden Gophers, Sanders has averaged 5.5 assists in the last two games.
HELPING HAND
Redshirt senior guard Briyona Canty has registered 13 games with five or more assists this season and is currently averaging 4.7 assists per game. She ranks seventh in the Big Ten.
Canty tied her career-high with 10 assists in RU's Big Ten opening win over the Golden Gophers. It marked the third time in her career she has recorded double figure assists.
Most recently, the redshirt senior guard had nine helpers in RU's victory at Penn State on Feb. 7 and moved into fifth all-time in the category at Rutgers.
Canty handed out six assists in helping Rutgers snap a four-game skid in a 66-56 win over Nebraska on Jan. 30. It gave her 100 assists on the year, marking the third straight season she has captured 100 or more assists. She dished out 117 total assists last season.
UP NEXT
The Rutgers women's basketball is back on the road traveling to Illinois to close out the season series with the Fighting Illini. Game time is set for 6 p.m. (ET) on BTN.
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-RU-
