BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Rutgers women's basketball team fought back from down nine points early in the third quarter and held the lead until the 3:43 mark of the final frame before 3-pointers and free throws put Indiana back on top as the Scarlet Knights fell 64-58 at Assembly Hall on Saturday afternoon.

The Scarlet Knights suffered their third-straight loss and dropped to 17-6 on the year and 5-4 in Big Ten play. The Hoosiers, meanwhile, win their third-straight to improve to 11-12 overalll and 4-6 in league action.

Rutgers had a pair of Scarlet Knights finish in double figures led by the 17-point effort from redshirt senior guard Tyler Scaife. Junior guard Khadaizha Sanders scored all 10 of her points in the Scarlet Knights' third quarter turnaround.

Indiana was led by Kym Royster, Jaelynn Penn and Amanda Cahill all with 14 points. Tyra Buss added in 12 in the victory.

Trailing by nine early in the third quarter, Rutgers turned the tide with an 18-2 run. Included in the run was Sanders with her own 8-0 Scarlet Knight scoring barrage which gave RU a 47-40 lead with 1:46 left in the quarter.

While Rutgers connected on seven consecutive shots from the field to close out the frame, Indiana closed the gap in the closing moments of the third quarter. The Hoosiers ended the stanza on a 6-2 run, but it was the Scarlet Knights in front, 49-46.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the only points came off  two Indiana free throws as RU held on to a 49-48 edge. The Hoosiers' Cahill notched the quarter's first field goal with 3:28 to go on a 3-pointer putting the Hoosiers back on top at 51-49.

Scaife knotted the score at 51-51 on a putback that bounced around the rim and in on the following possession, but Indiana would control the lead the rest of the way capitalizing on a Buss 3-pointer and 10 made free throws.

Rollins cut the RU deficit to three, 56-53, with a pair of makes from the line with 43 seconds left, but the Hoosiers continued to connect at the stripe in refusing to relinquish the lead. It would the closest the Scarlet Knights would get in the closing moments.

The Scarlet Knights are back on the road for its next contest traveling to College Park to meet the No. 14/13 Maryland Terrapins. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 1 with coverage available from BTN Plus and the Rutgers IMG Radio Network with Ralph Bednarczyk and Mark Peterson on the call.

KNIGHT NOTES
- With the loss, Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer's career record falls to 994-395. She is six wins away from 1,000 career victories.
- With her 17 points, Scaife now has 2,079 career points. She needs 133 more to move into second place on the all-time list past Cappie Pondexter (2002-2006).
- Khadaizha Sanders had her second double figure scoring game of the season and in the last three games has averaged 9.0 points per game.
- Sanders also dished out a game-high six assists marking her seventh game of the year with five or more helpers.
- Caitlin Jenkins had ninth double digit rebounding game with a game-high 10 boards. Nine of her rebounds came on the defensive end.
 

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