CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Rutgers women's basketball team stay ahead of a late fourth quarter surge by the Harvard Crimson to escape Lavietes Basketball Pavilion with a 60-49 victory.

The Scarlet Knights, who improved to 6-3 overall, saw the Crimson erase a 15-point second half deficit and pull within a possession with three and a half minutes remaining.

Redshirt sophomore guard Arella Guirantes and redshirt senior forward Stasha Carey each contributed 19 points in the victory.

Harvard, who fell to 4-6 overall, was led by 18 from Katie Benzan and 14 from Sydney Skinner.
 
FIRST QUARTER
Rutgers missed its first three shots over the course of the opening three minutes, but once the Scarlet Knights got onto the scoreboard it was an 8-0 run. Fueled by 3-pointers from Sierra Calhoun and Noga Peleg Pelc, RU held a 10-6 edge with 3:44 to go in the frame.

The Crimson would be held to 1-of-8 from the field over the last 5:34 of the quarter, limited to only a made three from the hands of Mackenzie Barta. Meanwhile, RU closed out the quarter ahead 13-9.

SECOND QUARTER
The Scarlet Knights opened with seven unanswered for a double-digit 21-11 lead three and a half minutes in.

The Crimson would try and take advantage of a three-minute Scarlet Knight scoring drought attempting to close the gap from long range, but would go 0-of-6 from beyond the arc in the second quarter.

Harvard twice whittled down its deficit down to nine, but it was Rutgers going into the intermission up 26-15.

Guriantes would log 10 of her 19 points in first half action.

THIRD QUARTER
It was a balanced scoring effort by both squads to open second half action with Rutgers refusing to relinquish the double-double advantage.

Back-to-back made buckets from 3-point range from Guirantes and Zipporah Broughton lengthened the lead. Broughton followed by hitting 1-of-2 from the stripe for RU's largest lead of the game with a 15-point 34-19 with 6:32 left.

Jadyn Bush would pull her Harvard squad with 10 on a layup with two and a half minutes remaining, but it was Rutgers ahead, 42-30, going into the final 10 minutes of action.  

FOURTH QUARTER
The double-digit Scarlet Knight advantage was erased by the Crimson in the final quarter. Harvard went hot from the floor, going 5-of-5 from the field during a three-minute span and eventually used a 13-2 run midway to close the gap to within a possession. A jumper by Harvard's Sydney Skinner saw RU clinging to a 46-43 edge with 3:31 to play.

Rutgers gave itself some breathing room to follow with Guirantes knocking down two from the line followed by a Carey jumper from just inside the arc. Smothering defense from Victoria Harris and Charise Wilson led to a Harvard turnaround and put Wilson at the line. The graduate student guard hit the first shot, but missed the second. As the Crimson collected the rebound, Carey intercepted the ensuing pass for a basket to put the Scarlet Knights up 51-43 with 1:37 left.

The Crimson did not go away and immediately punched back with a Katie Benzan 3-pointer as Rutgers held on to a five-point advantage, 51-46, just moments later.

Stifling Rutgers defense would hold the Crimson to only one field goal the rest of the way while regaining a double-digit edge in the closing moments.

UP NEXT
Rutgers returns homes on Saturday, Dec. 15 to meet LSU in front of the BTN cameras with a 4 p.m. tipoff.

 

KNIGHT NOTES
- Rutgers used a new starting five for the first time in seven contests. Opening up the game on the floor were.
- The Scarlet Knights have kept all nine opponents to date under their scoring average. The Crimson entering the game pouring in 68.3 points per game and was held to a season-low 49.
- Arella Guirantes captured a season-high 19 points, which included a 6-of-6 effort from the free throw line.
- Caitlin Jenkins hauled in a game-high 10 rebounds. It marked the fourth game this season and 23^rd of her career with double digit rebounds.
 
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