PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The No. 21/19 Rutgers women's basketball team returned to win column, holding off Minnesota in an 80-70 overtime contest on Saturday afternoon at the RAC. The victory pushed RU to an unblemished record of 12-0 at home.
Winners of 11 of the last 12 outings, the Scarlet Knights improved to 17-3 overall and 5-1 in the Big Ten. The Golden Gophers fell to 14-5 overall and 3-3 in league play.
Prior to the contest, Rutgers recognized redshirt senior
Tyler Scaife for hitting the 2,000 career point mark. The guard is only the third Scarlet Knight to accomplish the feat, doing so in the last contest on the road at Purdue.
Two Scarlet Knights finished with 20+ scoring as Scaife posted a game-high 25 points. Redshirt junior
Stasha Carey followed with her second double-double of the year, including a season-high 23 points and 14 rebounds.
Minnesota was led by Carlie Wagner with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Destiny Pitts followed with 22 points of her own, while Gadiva Hubbard posted 13 points to round out the double-figure scorers.
Rutgers raced to a 10-0 lead across the first five minutes of action. A jumper by Minnesota's Wagner halted the run, but the RU surge continued. RU pushed to a 15-7 lead by the 2:57 mark.
In the final seconds of the quarter, the Golden Gophers Kenisha Bell ended a four-minute drought for the Gophers and Pitts followed with a 3-pointer, but Carey secured a putback to set the Scarlet Knight lead at 17-12.
The teams opened the second quarter trading points at the charity stripe. Midway through the frame, Minnesota produced an 8-2 surge, including a 3-pointer for Hubbard and a 5-for-5 showing at the free throw line, to cut into the RU lead 28-25 at the 5:46 mark.
Rutgers responded with its own 11-4 run to re-generate a double-digit lead at 39-29 with 2:33 to go in the first half. The Scarlet Knights controlled the advantage for a 40-34 edge at halftime.
Minnesota applied pressure in the third quarter, pulled within three on four occasions, but Rutgers remained in control at 51-47 lead heading into the fourth frame.
The Scarlet Knights pushed to a 5-2 scoring edge with a layup for Scaife and 3-pointer for
Nigia Greene, setting the lead at 56-49. The Gophers, however, responded with a 7-0 surge to tie the score for the first time of the night at 56-56 with 4:50 left in regulation.
Rutgers moved back in front by as many as four until a Wagner shot from beyond the arc helped tie the score again at 62-62. Carey returned the lead to Rutgers with a jumper on the following Scarlet Knight possession, but the Gophers' Pitts would go 3-for-3 at the line to give Minnesota its first lead of the night at 65-64 with a minute on the clock.
Although a Scaife layup and 2-for-2 trip to the free throw line for Greene saw RU hold onto lead, Minnesota's Pitts connected from downtown to tie the score with 15 seconds remaining. Rutgers, looking for a final shot, turned the ball over leading to an open look for Minnesota, but the Golden Gophers missed the layup at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
In overtime, Carey opened the scoring with two free throws and a layup to return energy to the Scarlet Knights. The Gophers saw a jumper from Wagner pull them within two, 72-70, with three minutes to go in the period.
Rutgers responded with eight unanswered points to control overtime, as Scaife closed the door on Minnesota with two free throws for the 80-70 victory.
The No. 21/19 Rutgers women's basketball team returns to action closing out the season series with Penn State in State College on Thursday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on BTN Plus with the Rutgers IMG Radio Network providing coverage from Ralph Bednarczyk and
Mark Peterson.
KNIGHT NOTES
- With the win Rutgers head coach
C. Vivian Stringer improves her career record to 994-393. She is six wins away from 1,000 career victories.
- Rutgers improved to 12-0 at the RAC this season and is in the midst of its longest home win streak since 20-straight RAC wins between Nov. 16, 2007 and Dec. 29, 2008. The Scarlet Knights opened the 2007-08 season with a home loss against Stanford but would finish the year out with 14-straight home wins. The streak continued into the next season where Rutgers won six-straight at the RAC.
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Stasha Carey captured her second double-double as a Scarlet Knight and 15
th of her career with 23 points and 14 rebounds.
- Carey set a new season high in points with 23 and was three points shy of her career mark. Her previous season high was 10 against Washington State (Nov. 26), Seton Hall (Dec. 8) and Houston (Dec. 16).
- Carey's 14 boards was one rebound shy of her season-high. She hauled in 15 boards in RU's win over Seton Hall on Dec. 8.
- With her 25 points, Scaife now has 2,032 career points. She needs 180 more to move into second place on the all-time list past Cappie Pondexter (2002-2006).
- With Scaife's 25 points and Carey's 23 points, it marked the first time two Scarlet Knights scored 20+ points in a game since
Kandiss Barber and
Desiree Keeling scored 22 and 21 respectively in last season's overtime contest with James Madison on Dec. 5.
- Scaife registered her 12
th 20+ scoring effort of the 2017-18 campaign.
- Minnesota's 70 points were the second fewest scored by the Golden Gophers this season. Minnesota had a season low 69 in a 69-72 setback to San Diego on Dec. 10.
- Minnesota's 12 points in first quarter the second fewest score in a frame in Big Ten play so far. Ohio State held Golden Gophers to eight points.
- The Golden Gophers committed a season-high 24 turnovers. Minnesota's previous high was 19 against Eastern Michigan on Dec. 3. Thirteen of of RU's 20 opponents to date have registered 20 or more miscues versus the Scarlet Knights.
- RU improved to 23-19 all-time in overtime contests.
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