CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Rutgers women's basketball team made it seven in-a-row on Wednesday night with a 71-60 victory over Illinois at the State Farm Center.
The Scarlet Knights upped their mark to 12-3 overall and 4-0 in the Big Ten. The Fighting Illini, fresh off an upset win over then-No. 12 Minnesota fell to 9-6 overall and 1-3 in conference play.
Redshirt sophomore guard
Arella Guirantes led Rutgers once again putting away a game-high 15 points. Redshirt senior forward
Stasha Carey had 11 points and nine rebounds, while graduate student guard
Charise Wilson and senior forward
Caitlin Jenkins added 10 points each.
Redshirt junior
Ciani Cryor recorded 13 assists, the most by a Scarlet Knight since 2006.
FIRST QUARTER
The Fighting Illini netted the first two buckets of the game, but from there it was all Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights proceeded on a 23-0 run over the next 5:27 en-route to a 28-11 advantage at the close of the frame. Guirantes put away 12 of her 15 points, while Cryor dished out six of her 13 assists during the run. RU shot a blistering 60 percent from the floor connecting on 12-of-20, including four made shots from long range.
SECOND QUARTER
Scoring was more balanced in the second stanza, but the Scarlet Knights never trailed by less than 10.
An 8-0 run saw the Fighting Illini trail, 39-29, with 1:26 left until the break, but a Peleg Pelc 3-pointer and fast break layup by
Caitlin Jenkins off Cryor's ninth assist of the night gave RU a 44-29 advantage at the half.
Peleg Pelc came off the Scarlet Knight bench for nine points during the second quarter, going 3-of-4 from long range.
THIRD QUARTER
It was another balanced quarter with the Scarlet Knights leading by double digits throughout the frame. Rutgers led 58-41 heading into the contest's final 10 minutes.
FOURTH QUARTER
Illinois cut its deficit to single digits to close out the contest outscoring RU, 19-13.
An 8-0 Illinois run capped by a 3-pointer from the hands of Courteny Joens sliced the Scarlet Knight advantage to 66-57 with 1:46 left.
A Carey layup pushed RU back up to double digits, but Joens was send to the line on the following trip down the court after attempting a 3-pointer. She made all three shots giving Illinois its closest margin since the opening moments of the contest.
Rutgers, however, held on going 3-of-4 from the line down the stretch.
UP NEXT
The Scarlet Knights are back out to the Midwest on Sunday at 3 p.m. (ET) for a meeting with Nebraska on BTN with Mike Monaco and Vera Jones on the call.
KNIGHT NOTES
- Ciani Cryor's 13 assists were the most by a Scarlet Knight since Matee Ajavon's 13 helpts against TCU on March 21, 2006.
- It was the 15th-straight opponent Rutgers has kept under its scoring average. Illinois entered the game averaging 73.5 points per game and netted just 60 in the loss.
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