Thursday, January 18
State College, Pa.
7:00 PM
Rutgers University
at
Penn State
No. 25/21 Women's Basketball Heads to Penn State
Jan 17 | Women's Basketball
Scarlet Knights Close Out Series With Lady Lions on Thursday at 7 p.m.
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The No. 25/21 Rutgers women's basketball team is back on the road to wrap up another Big Ten season series. The Scarlet Knights meet the Lady Lions at the Bryce Jordan Center on Thursday at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on BTN Plus with additional coverage available on the Rutgers IMG Radio Network with Ralph Bednarczyk and Mark Peterson on the call.
ROARING TO ANOTHER SERIES WRAP-UP
The No. 25/21 Rutgers women's basketball team closes out the season series with Penn State on Thursday in State College following an overtime thriller with Minnesota on Saturday.
The Scarlet Knights outscored the Golden Gophers 12-2 in the extra frame to secure a 80-70 victory and improve to 12-0 at home.
Minnesota managed to tie the ball game up at 68-68 with 15 seconds remaining in regulation. Rutgers turned the ball over on the following possession but Destiny Pitts missed the potential game-winning layup at the buzzer.
Redshirt junior forward Stasha Carey collected her second double-double of the year with a season-high 23 points and 14 rebounds. Redshirt senior guard Tyler Scaife had a game-high 25 points.
ABOUT PENN STATE
Penn State welcomes the Scarlet Knights to "Happy Valley" with a 11-8 overall record and 2-4 Big Ten mark. The Lady Lions have gone 1-1 since last meeting up with Rutgers on Jan. 6 with a 91-71 home loss to Minnesota and rebounding on the road in a 69-62 win at Wisconsin.
Junior guard Teniya Page continues to lead the Lady Lions at 16.6 points per game. She is followed by Junior guard Amari Carter at 15.5 points per contest and sophomore guard Jaida Travascio-Green with 12.1 points per outing.
On the boards, junior forward De'Janae Boykin is collecting 8.9 rebounds per game. She is tied for fifth in the Big Ten in rebounding.
LAST TIME VS. PENN STATE
Rutgers pushed past Penn State late in the fourth quarter back on Jan. 6 to improve to 11-0 at home in a 70-65 victory.
Redshirt senior guard Tyler Scaife matched her career-high with 29 points moving two points away from the 2,000-point club while graduate guard Nigia Greene followed 16 points. Redshirt junior forward Stasha Carey, meanwhile, nearly eclipsed a double-double with 10 rebounds and nine points in the win.
Penn State was paced by Teniya Page with a team-high 24 points followed by Amari Carter with 18. Jaida Travascio-Green rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points, while De'Janae Boykin recorded 11 rebounds in the loss.
With 3:51 to go in the game, Lady Lion Travascio-Green used a jumper to set off a 9-2 burst allowing Penn State to pull within one at, 64-63. Following a 3-pointer for Page, teammate Siyeh Frazier secured a steal on the ensuing Scarlet Knight inbounds pass and went coast-to-coast for a layup that set the margin at 64-63 with 30 seconds remaining on the clock.
Scaife and Greene went a combined 6-for-6 at the charity stripe, as Greene tacked on the final free throw to seal the 70-65 victory.
BACK IN THE TOP 25
Rutgers has returned back to the Top 25 for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
The Scarlet Knights cracked the top 25 of the Associated Press Poll in the week nine poll on Jan. 8 checking in at No. 21. It was RU's first appearance in the AP's rankings since March 2, 2015.
Rutgers came in at No. 25 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll on week eight on Jan. 2 and has ranked as high as No. 19. It was the Scarlet Knights first appearance since ranking at No. 23 in the final poll of the 2014-15 season.
STRINGER MILESTONE NUMBERS TO REMEMBER
Rutgers head coach Stringer has compiled a 994-393 career record in 47 seasons and is six wins away from joining the elite 1,000 career victories club in women's basketball.
SCAIFE MILESTONE NUMBERS TO REMEMBER
Tyler Scaife's game-high 24 points in 23 minutes against Princeton on Dec. 13 propelled the redshirt senior into third place on the Rutgers all-time scoring leader list past former teammate Kahleah Copper (2012-16).
In the next game on Dec. 16, Scaife's steal leading to behind the back bucket that was featured on ESPNW's Top Ten Plays of the Week, pushed her past the 1,900 career point mark.
With nine points at Purdue last Wednesday, Scaife became the third Scarlet Knight to collect over 2,000 career points joining Rutgers greats Sue Wicks and Cappie Pondexter in the club.
Scaife now needs 180 more to move into second place on the all-time list past Cappie Pondexter (2002-2006).
Scaife has scored 421 points this season and kicked off the 2017-18 campaign 10th all-time in scoring.
Scaife is also among the active leading scorers in Division I:
1 Kelsey Mitchell , Ohio St. 3,013
2 Katelynn Flaherty , Michigan 2,457
3 Jasmine Nwajei , Syracuse 2,135
4 Victoria Vivians , Mississippi St. 2,120
5 Tyler Scaife , Rutgers 2,032
6 A'Ja Wilson , South Carolina 2,013
7 Kolby Morgan , Tulane 2,012
8 Kahlia Lawrence , Mercer 1,997
9 Tyra Buss , Indiana 1,978
10 Carlie Wagner , Minnesota 1,940
GETTING THE POINTS
Rutgers is enjoying one of its highest scoring averages under C. Vivian Stringer's 23-year tenure "On the Banks"
Top RU Scoring Averages Under C. Vivian Stringer
1. 70.0 (35 games) 1998-99 – 29-6 – Elite Eight
2t. 68.7 (32 games) 2014-15 - 23-10 - 2nd Round
2t. 68.7 (32 games) 1997-98 – 22-10 – Sweet 16
4. 68.3 (20 games) 2017-18 - 17-3 - Current Season
5. 67.3 (29 games) 2002-03 – 21-8 – 2nd Round
6. 66.2 (37 games) 2013-14 – WNIT Champions
7. 65.6 (31 games) 2000-01 – 23-8 – 2nd Round
OUT OF THE GATE
The Scarlet Knights had one of their best starts to the season in recent memories. The 2017-18 season opened at 16-2, the best start for the Scarlet Knights since the 2007-08 campaign when RU kicked things off at 17-2 and finished with a 27-7 overall record reaching the Sweet 16.
MOST IMPROVED TEAM
Rutgers is on pace to become the NCAA Division I Most Improved Teams in 2017-18.
16-17: 17-18:
1. Rutgers (+11) 6-24 17-3
2. Ala. A&M (+6) 2-25 8-8
3t. Butler (+5) 6-25 11-8
3t. Nebraska (+5) 7-22 12-6
3t. Denver (+5) 6-24 11-8
3t. UC Irvine (+5) 5-26 10-7
7. Fla. Atlantic (+4) 4-25 8-6
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
As a team, Rutgers appeared in the top 25 in eight categories including leading the nation in steals (255), ranking seventh in blocked shots (109) and eighth in steals per game (12.8)
Individually, redshirt senior guard Tyler Scaife is second nationally in field goals attempted (349), third in field goals made (164) and fourth in total points (421).
B1G SPEAKING
You can find Rutgers leading the Big Ten in scoring defense (54.9), field goal defense (.355) and steals (12.8) and second in the league in 3-point field goal defense (.299) and blocked shots (5.5) and turnover margin (+6.3).
Among conference peers, redshirt senior guard Tyler Scaife is fourth in scoring (21.1) and fifth in free throw percentage (.846). Redshirt sophomore guard Ciani Cryor is tied for ninth in steals (2.0) and junior forward Caitlin Jenkins is 12th in rebounding (7.7) and sixth in blocks (1.7).
THE INSIDE GAME
Rutgers has dropped in 30 or more points in the paint in 10 contests to date.
More than half of RU's scoring in the 80-70 overtime win over Minnesota on Saturday came from the inside game with 42 paint points.
In the last five games, Rutgers has averaged 31.6 points in the paint.
NEWCOMER FACTOR
Certainly the new faces on the court have contributed significantly to Rutgers resurgence.
Of the 42.5% of the scoring (581 of 1,367 total points) and 54.4% of the rebounding (425 of 781 total rebounds) come from Scarlet Knights playing in their first season in Scarlet.
HOME COOKING
Rutgers is currently 12-0 at home this season. It is RU's longest home win streak since winning 20-straight at the RAC 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 before a 55-51 loss to Tennessee snapped the streak.
FUN WHILE IT LASTED
Rutgers had won 11-straight games dating back to the Big Ten/ACC Challenge with N.C. State on Nov. 30 prior to the Jan. 10 loss to the Boilermakers at Mackey Arena.
It was the longest win streak for the Scarlet Knights since ending the season with six-straight wins to capture the 2014 WNIT title and beginning the 2015-16 season with six consecutive victories.
D-D-D-DEFENSE
The defense has turned up the pressure this season and currently leads the Big Ten in scoring defense holding opponents to just 54.8 points per game. All 20 opponents to date have been held under their scoring average.
Avg. Entering Total Pts.
Team: Game w/ RU: vs. RU:
JMU 70.2 63
Temple 96.0 67
Charlotte 70.5 54
Wake Forest 71.7 51
So. Carolina 88.2 78
Wash, St. 69.7 64
Siena 67.3 63
NC State 71.9 53
Virginia 63.2 43
Seton Hall 81.1 45
FDU 63.0 35
Princeton 65.8 50
Houston 73.9 57
Purdue 68.8 50
Mich. St. 79.6 58
Illinois 64.8 37
Penn State 70.4 65
Purdue 66.1 47
Minnesota 86.2 70
20/20 VISION
Two Scarlet Knights dropped in 20+ points in a game for the first time this season in Rutgers' 80-70 victory over Minnesota on Jan. 13.
With redshirt guard Tyler Scaife's 25 points and redshirt junior Stasha 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.
UP NEXT
Following Thursday's contest, the Scarlet Knights have two games left in the month of January. RU returns home for the lone meeting with a vastly improved Nebraska squad on Sunday and hits the road for its only regular season meeting with Indiana in Bloomington on Jan. 27.
ROARING TO ANOTHER SERIES WRAP-UP
The No. 25/21 Rutgers women's basketball team closes out the season series with Penn State on Thursday in State College following an overtime thriller with Minnesota on Saturday.
The Scarlet Knights outscored the Golden Gophers 12-2 in the extra frame to secure a 80-70 victory and improve to 12-0 at home.
Minnesota managed to tie the ball game up at 68-68 with 15 seconds remaining in regulation. Rutgers turned the ball over on the following possession but Destiny Pitts missed the potential game-winning layup at the buzzer.
Redshirt junior forward Stasha Carey collected her second double-double of the year with a season-high 23 points and 14 rebounds. Redshirt senior guard Tyler Scaife had a game-high 25 points.
ABOUT PENN STATE
Penn State welcomes the Scarlet Knights to "Happy Valley" with a 11-8 overall record and 2-4 Big Ten mark. The Lady Lions have gone 1-1 since last meeting up with Rutgers on Jan. 6 with a 91-71 home loss to Minnesota and rebounding on the road in a 69-62 win at Wisconsin.
Junior guard Teniya Page continues to lead the Lady Lions at 16.6 points per game. She is followed by Junior guard Amari Carter at 15.5 points per contest and sophomore guard Jaida Travascio-Green with 12.1 points per outing.
On the boards, junior forward De'Janae Boykin is collecting 8.9 rebounds per game. She is tied for fifth in the Big Ten in rebounding.
LAST TIME VS. PENN STATE
Rutgers pushed past Penn State late in the fourth quarter back on Jan. 6 to improve to 11-0 at home in a 70-65 victory.
Redshirt senior guard Tyler Scaife matched her career-high with 29 points moving two points away from the 2,000-point club while graduate guard Nigia Greene followed 16 points. Redshirt junior forward Stasha Carey, meanwhile, nearly eclipsed a double-double with 10 rebounds and nine points in the win.
Penn State was paced by Teniya Page with a team-high 24 points followed by Amari Carter with 18. Jaida Travascio-Green rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points, while De'Janae Boykin recorded 11 rebounds in the loss.
With 3:51 to go in the game, Lady Lion Travascio-Green used a jumper to set off a 9-2 burst allowing Penn State to pull within one at, 64-63. Following a 3-pointer for Page, teammate Siyeh Frazier secured a steal on the ensuing Scarlet Knight inbounds pass and went coast-to-coast for a layup that set the margin at 64-63 with 30 seconds remaining on the clock.
Scaife and Greene went a combined 6-for-6 at the charity stripe, as Greene tacked on the final free throw to seal the 70-65 victory.
BACK IN THE TOP 25
Rutgers has returned back to the Top 25 for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
The Scarlet Knights cracked the top 25 of the Associated Press Poll in the week nine poll on Jan. 8 checking in at No. 21. It was RU's first appearance in the AP's rankings since March 2, 2015.
Rutgers came in at No. 25 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll on week eight on Jan. 2 and has ranked as high as No. 19. It was the Scarlet Knights first appearance since ranking at No. 23 in the final poll of the 2014-15 season.
STRINGER MILESTONE NUMBERS TO REMEMBER
Rutgers head coach Stringer has compiled a 994-393 career record in 47 seasons and is six wins away from joining the elite 1,000 career victories club in women's basketball.
SCAIFE MILESTONE NUMBERS TO REMEMBER
Tyler Scaife's game-high 24 points in 23 minutes against Princeton on Dec. 13 propelled the redshirt senior into third place on the Rutgers all-time scoring leader list past former teammate Kahleah Copper (2012-16).
In the next game on Dec. 16, Scaife's steal leading to behind the back bucket that was featured on ESPNW's Top Ten Plays of the Week, pushed her past the 1,900 career point mark.
With nine points at Purdue last Wednesday, Scaife became the third Scarlet Knight to collect over 2,000 career points joining Rutgers greats Sue Wicks and Cappie Pondexter in the club.
Scaife now needs 180 more to move into second place on the all-time list past Cappie Pondexter (2002-2006).
Scaife has scored 421 points this season and kicked off the 2017-18 campaign 10th all-time in scoring.
Scaife is also among the active leading scorers in Division I:
1 Kelsey Mitchell , Ohio St. 3,013
2 Katelynn Flaherty , Michigan 2,457
3 Jasmine Nwajei , Syracuse 2,135
4 Victoria Vivians , Mississippi St. 2,120
5 Tyler Scaife , Rutgers 2,032
6 A'Ja Wilson , South Carolina 2,013
7 Kolby Morgan , Tulane 2,012
8 Kahlia Lawrence , Mercer 1,997
9 Tyra Buss , Indiana 1,978
10 Carlie Wagner , Minnesota 1,940
GETTING THE POINTS
Rutgers is enjoying one of its highest scoring averages under C. Vivian Stringer's 23-year tenure "On the Banks"
Top RU Scoring Averages Under C. Vivian Stringer
1. 70.0 (35 games) 1998-99 – 29-6 – Elite Eight
2t. 68.7 (32 games) 2014-15 - 23-10 - 2nd Round
2t. 68.7 (32 games) 1997-98 – 22-10 – Sweet 16
4. 68.3 (20 games) 2017-18 - 17-3 - Current Season
5. 67.3 (29 games) 2002-03 – 21-8 – 2nd Round
6. 66.2 (37 games) 2013-14 – WNIT Champions
7. 65.6 (31 games) 2000-01 – 23-8 – 2nd Round
OUT OF THE GATE
The Scarlet Knights had one of their best starts to the season in recent memories. The 2017-18 season opened at 16-2, the best start for the Scarlet Knights since the 2007-08 campaign when RU kicked things off at 17-2 and finished with a 27-7 overall record reaching the Sweet 16.
MOST IMPROVED TEAM
Rutgers is on pace to become the NCAA Division I Most Improved Teams in 2017-18.
16-17: 17-18:
1. Rutgers (+11) 6-24 17-3
2. Ala. A&M (+6) 2-25 8-8
3t. Butler (+5) 6-25 11-8
3t. Nebraska (+5) 7-22 12-6
3t. Denver (+5) 6-24 11-8
3t. UC Irvine (+5) 5-26 10-7
7. Fla. Atlantic (+4) 4-25 8-6
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
As a team, Rutgers appeared in the top 25 in eight categories including leading the nation in steals (255), ranking seventh in blocked shots (109) and eighth in steals per game (12.8)
Individually, redshirt senior guard Tyler Scaife is second nationally in field goals attempted (349), third in field goals made (164) and fourth in total points (421).
B1G SPEAKING
You can find Rutgers leading the Big Ten in scoring defense (54.9), field goal defense (.355) and steals (12.8) and second in the league in 3-point field goal defense (.299) and blocked shots (5.5) and turnover margin (+6.3).
Among conference peers, redshirt senior guard Tyler Scaife is fourth in scoring (21.1) and fifth in free throw percentage (.846). Redshirt sophomore guard Ciani Cryor is tied for ninth in steals (2.0) and junior forward Caitlin Jenkins is 12th in rebounding (7.7) and sixth in blocks (1.7).
THE INSIDE GAME
Rutgers has dropped in 30 or more points in the paint in 10 contests to date.
More than half of RU's scoring in the 80-70 overtime win over Minnesota on Saturday came from the inside game with 42 paint points.
In the last five games, Rutgers has averaged 31.6 points in the paint.
One of @BobbieKelsey ??'s to the #RHoops victory...
— Rutgers W.Basketball (@RutgersWBB) January 14, 2018
"...they really got a piece of that paint almost every time they were able to score"
#RHoops had 42 points in the ?? vs. the Golden Gophers pic.twitter.com/KrTg4CzBjh
NEWCOMER FACTOR
Certainly the new faces on the court have contributed significantly to Rutgers resurgence.
Of the 42.5% of the scoring (581 of 1,367 total points) and 54.4% of the rebounding (425 of 781 total rebounds) come from Scarlet Knights playing in their first season in Scarlet.
HOME COOKING
Rutgers is currently 12-0 at home this season. It is RU's longest home win streak since winning 20-straight at the RAC 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 before a 55-51 loss to Tennessee snapped the streak.
FUN WHILE IT LASTED
Rutgers had won 11-straight games dating back to the Big Ten/ACC Challenge with N.C. State on Nov. 30 prior to the Jan. 10 loss to the Boilermakers at Mackey Arena.
It was the longest win streak for the Scarlet Knights since ending the season with six-straight wins to capture the 2014 WNIT title and beginning the 2015-16 season with six consecutive victories.
D-D-D-DEFENSE
The defense has turned up the pressure this season and currently leads the Big Ten in scoring defense holding opponents to just 54.8 points per game. All 20 opponents to date have been held under their scoring average.
Avg. Entering Total Pts.
Team: Game w/ RU: vs. RU:
JMU 70.2 63
Temple 96.0 67
Charlotte 70.5 54
Wake Forest 71.7 51
So. Carolina 88.2 78
Wash, St. 69.7 64
Siena 67.3 63
NC State 71.9 53
Virginia 63.2 43
Seton Hall 81.1 45
FDU 63.0 35
Princeton 65.8 50
Houston 73.9 57
Purdue 68.8 50
Mich. St. 79.6 58
Illinois 64.8 37
Penn State 70.4 65
Purdue 66.1 47
Minnesota 86.2 70
20/20 VISION
Two Scarlet Knights dropped in 20+ points in a game for the first time this season in Rutgers' 80-70 victory over Minnesota on Jan. 13.
With redshirt guard Tyler Scaife's 25 points and redshirt junior Stasha 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.
UP NEXT
Following Thursday's contest, the Scarlet Knights have two games left in the month of January. RU returns home for the lone meeting with a vastly improved Nebraska squad on Sunday and hits the road for its only regular season meeting with Indiana in Bloomington on Jan. 27.
Follow Rutgers women's basketball at www.ScarletKnights.com and (@RutgersWBB) on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all of the latest news and updates.
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