CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Rutgers women's basketball team's season opening road trip came to a close on Thursday night with a 77-54 victory over Charlotte at Halton Arena. The Scarlet Knights will head into its 2017-18 home opener on Sunday riding a three-game win streak.

Redshirt senior guard Tyler Scaife led the Scarlet Knights with 18 points while senior guard Jazlynd Rollins added in 13 points to go along with a career-high five assists from off the bench. Junior forward Caitlin Jenkins narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.

The 49ers (1-2) were led by a game-high 21 points from Octavia Wilson with 15 points coming from the line. Amaya Wilson contributed 15 in the loss.

The Scarlet Knights captured 52 points in the paint and capitalized with 38 points off 28 Charlotte turnovers.

Rutgers opened the game with eight unanswered points with four different Scarlet Knights in the mix and never looked back. The first 10 minutes of the contest saw RU lead 22-6, shooting 63% (10-of-16) from the field and going inside for 14 of its 22 points.

Rutgers extended the advantage by as many as 23 in the second half. The traditional 3-point play by redshirt junior forward Stasha Carey put the Scarlet Knights 31-8 with 7:31 left until the break.

The 49ers managed a 9-0 run starting at the midway point of the second frame and pulled within 32-19 at the 3:32 mark, but would get no closer. Rutgers entered the locker room with a 42-25 advantage.

A 7-0 Scarlet Knight run late in the third quarter fueled by five-straight points by Tekia Mack off the "and one" followed by a lay-up returned Rutgers to a 20+ point advantage, 57-36, with 2:20 to in the stanza.

Two of Wilson's 15 free throws stopped the run for Charlotte, but Rutgers responded with junior center Desiree Keeling going to the basket to return the 20+ point advantage for nearly the rest of the evening.

RU took its largest lead with 7:44 left in the game. A Scaife bucket gave the Scarlet Knights a 24-point, 67-43 edge.



The Rutgers women's basketball teams returns to the RAC for its 2017-18 home opener with Wake Forest on Sunday, Nov. 19. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. The game will be streamed on BTN Plus and air on the Rutgers IMG Radio Network.  

KNIGHT NOTES
- Rutgers head coach Stringer has compiled a 980-390 career record in 47 seasons and is 20 wins away from joining Stanford's Tara VanDerveer and former Tennessee head coach Pat Summit with 1,000 career victories in women's basketball. 
- Tyler Scaife is currently ninth on the Rutgers all-time scoring leaders list with 1,665 points. She needs 18 more points to move past Tanya Hansen (1988-92) to move into eighth place.
- Rutgers used the starting lineup of redshirt senior guards Tyler Scaife and Kathleen Fitzpatrick, junior guard Khadaizha Sanders, redshirt junior forward Stasha Carey and junior center Victoria Harris for the third-straight contest.
- The Rutgers bench has averaged 34.0 points through the first three games of the season.
 
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