ESTERO, Fla. – Washington State battled back from a 14-point deficit and the Scarlet Knights' Ciani Cryor missed a game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds as the Rutgers women's basketball team fell in the third and final game of the Gulf Coast Showcase on Sunday, 63-60.

Rutgers (5-2) was led by redshirt senior guard Tyler Scaife with 12 points, redshirt junior forward Stasha Carey with 10 points and eight rebounds and the second-straight double-double by junior forward Caitlin Jenkins with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Washington State's (3-4) Borislava Hristova was one of four Cougars in double figures with a game-high 17 points. Alexys Swedlund came off the bench for 14 points, while Louise Brown netted 13 and Pinelopi Pavlopoulou added in 11 points and six assists.

The Scarlet Knights led by as many as 14 points in the second quarter and were ahead 40-30 at the half.

The Cougars, meanwhile, opened the second half on a 9-2 run and outscored Rutgers 23-10 in the third quarter.

Washington State entered the fourth quarter ahead 53-50, but Rutgers managed to reclaim the lead with 7:22 left. A Scaife jumper from the right wing put Rutgers up 56-54.

From there, the game endured a pair of ties, the last coming with 2:46 to go off Cryor feeding Jenkins for a layup to knot the score at 59-59.

After the Cougars missed their first shot on the next possession, Calia Hailey's put back gave the edge back to Washington State at 61-59.

Neither team was able to find the basket over the next two minutes when Cryor was fouled off a missed Pavlopoulou jumper. Cryor hit 1-of-2 from the line and Rutgers trailed 61-60 with 32 seconds remaining.

Off the Cryor missed free throw, Jenkins corralled the ball to keep the Scarlet Knights' hopes alive.

Following a timeout, Scaife ran the lane, but was unable to put the ball in the basket, and a put back by Jenkins was short. Off the miss, the ball was tied up with the possession arrow favoring the Scarlet Knights with nine seconds left.

After a Scarlet Knight timeout, Scaife attempted to tie the game, but was called for the charge on her way to the basket.

Hristova added two free throws to cushion the Cougar lead by three, 63-60, with six seconds left.

Cryor tried the desperation 3-pointer in the closing seconds, but was short of her target.



The Rutgers women's basketball team returns home for an eight-game homestand beginning with NC State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Thursday, Nov. 30. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. The game will air on BTN with Jason Horowitz and Shelley Till on the call and broadcast by the Rutgers IMG Radio Network with Ralph Bednarczyk and Mark Peterson calling the action.
  
KNIGHT NOTES

• Rutgers used a new starting five on Sunday going with redshirt freshman guard Kate Hill, redshirt sophomore Ciani Cryor, graduate student guard Nigia Greene, freshman forward Tekia Mack and junior forward Caitlin Jenkins. 
• With her 12 points, Tyler Scaife is now 18 points away from moving into seventh place on the all-time scoring leaders list. She currently has 1,746 career points.
• Caitlin Jenkins registered her second double-double of the season after putting up 17 points and 12 rebounds on Saturday against Western Michigan. It was her 16^th career double-double.
• Western Michigan committed 22 turnovers marking the fourth time a Rutgers opponent has 20 or more miscues.
• Stasha Carey captured a season-high four steals.

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