PISCATAWAY, N.J. – For the second time this season, the Rutgers women's basketball team erased a 14-point deficit this time holding off NC State for a 53-57 win for its first ever Big Ten/ACC Challenge on a Thursday night at the RAC.
The Scarlet Knights trailed the Wolfpack by a score of 31-17 midway through the second quarter, but redshirt senior
Tyler Scaife fueled an 11-0 RU run to make it a three-point game at halftime. The teams battled it out through the remaining quarters as the Scarlet Knights pushed into the lead and held on for the win.
Rutgers improved to 6-2 on the season matching last season's win total in the eighth game of the 2017-18 campaign. NC State, meanwhile, dropped its second-straight contest to fall to 6-2 on the season.
Scaife poured in a game-high 27 points for her fourth 20-plus performance of the season, moving into seventh all-time in Rutgers scoring. Redshirt junior forward
Stasha Carey registered nine rebounds and four points for the Scarlet Knights.
Three Wolfpack players finished in double-digits paced by Chelsea Nelson with a double-double behind 14 points and 15 rebounds. Kiara Leslie followed with 13 points, while Aislinn Konig contributed 11 points.
Rutgers found an early deficit, 6-2, to start the game due to back-to-back early 3-pointers for NC State. However, the Scarlet Knights responded with a 6-1 burst of their own, as a
Ciani Cryor basket from downtown gave RU its first lead at 8-7 halfway through the first quarter.
After an early a back-and-forth battle to kick off the second quarter, the Wolfpack broke away with a 14-0 run to generate a 31-17 lead with 4:42 on the clock.
Scaife halted the run with a three-point play, igniting an 11-0 run for the Scarlet Knights to close the quarter. The redshirt senior guard contributed nine points to the surge, knocking in two jumpers in the quarter's final minute to pull RU within three, 31-28, at halftime.
The teams remained neck-in-neck throughout the entire third quarter. NC State held a slight edge until Scaife rattled off back-to-back jumpers to put RU in the lead, 38-36, with less than minute to go in the stanza. Although the Wolfpack tacked on two free throws, Cryor added on a free throw of her own to set the Scarlet Knights in front at 39-38.
Rutgers stayed energized into the fourth quarter, growing its largest lead at that point of the night at 45-40 after a steal by junior
Desiree Keeling set up a
Khadaizah Sanders layup. Sanders didn't stop there, as the junior guard went on sink a 3-pointer to grow the RU advantage even further to 48-41 with 4:48 remaining in the game.
NC State pulled within two, 54-52, with a minute to go, but clutch free throw shooting by junior
Caitlin Jenkins keep the Scarlet Knights ahead. The Wolfpack's Lucky Rudd had a chance to whittle down her squad deficit to one in the waning seconds after being awarded three shots at the line. Rudd hit only one of her three attempts with Carey coming away with the rebound and giving Rutgers possession to close out the contest.
Up next, Rutgers continues its eight-game homestand with Siena on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at the RAC with Dom Savino and Patrick Boyle on the call on BTN Plus and Ralph Bednarczyk and
Mark Peterson relaying the action on the Rutgers IMG Radio Network.
KNIGHT NOTES:
- With the win, Rutgers head coach Stringer improved her career record to 983-392 and is 17 wins away from 1,000 career victories
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Tyler Scaife moved in seventh on the all-time scoring leaders list with her 27 points moving past Caroline DeRoose (1990-94). The Little Rock, Arkansas native now has 1,772 points. She needs 18 more points to take over sixth place and surpass Telicher Austin (1985-89).
- Scaife has scored 20 or more points in four games this season, leading the team in scoring in seven of RU's eight games this season.
- Rutgers committed a season-low 10 turnovers. Conversely, NC State was the seventh opponent to register 20 or more miscues.
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www.ScarletKnights.com and (@RutgersWBB) on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all of the latest news and updates.
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