PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Dec. 15, 2019) – Rutgers women's basketball (10-1) defeated Marshall (5-5), 66-41, on Sunday at the RAC behind five Scarlet Knights in double-figure scoring to wrap up non-conference play and head into the Big Ten slate following the best start to a season since 2005.
Without the services of the Big Ten's second-leading scorer, redshirt junior guard
Arella Guirantes (19.1 points per game), the Scarlet Knights rallied behind freshman center and birthday girl
Maori Davenport's career-high 13 points, followed by 12 from
Khadaizha Sanders, 11 from
Mael Gilles and
Tekia Mack and 10 from
Jordan Wallace.
"We're really proud of the team," said head coach
C. Vivian Stringer. "We were down some players because of injury, but everyone stepped up in a team effort. We clicked on mostly all cylinders today, and it came at a great time. We're going to get some rest, we're going to hammer down our rotations and patterns, and we're going to be ready for the Big Ten."
The Scarlet Knights never trailed in the contest, outshot the Herd 42 to 23 percent from the field, established a 43-38 edge in rebounding and committed a season-low 11 turnovers.
- Celebrating her 19th birthday, Davenport notched her early career high of 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting, adding seven rebounds and a blocked shot.
- Mack added eight rebounds and a career-high six assists to go with her 11 points.
- Sanders hit a 30-foot three-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer for part of her 12 points. The point guard passed out eight assists compared to just one turnover in 29 minutes. The graduate student has 16 assists to one turnover over the last two games.
- Freshman guard Joiya Maddox hit three 3-pointers for her nine points.
- Graduate student guard Danielle Migliore earned her first start as a Scarlet Knight since transferring in from St. Bonaventure and contributed six rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block.
The Scarlet Knights stifled the Marshall attack from the opening tip and throughout most of the contest. The Herd missed their first eight shots and managed just two points on 1-of-13 shooting in the first quarter as Rutgers charged ahead 24-2, never looking back.
- The Rutgers defense suffocated Marshall to the tune of an 0-for-8 start from the field for the Herd. The visitors scored their first basket at the 4:05 mark before eventually extending the cold spell to 1-of-13 in first quarter. Meanwhile, Gilles netted five points and Sanders drilled a seemingly-routine three-pointer from the RAC logo just over midcourt with tenths of a second remaining the opening quarter to cement a 24-2 lead.
- Maddox and Sanders nailed three-pointers before Rutgers' two-plus minute scoring drought was ended by Sanders' fast break jumper to push the lead back to 21. Freshman center Maori Davenport stamped a 7-0 run to end the half off Migliore's second assist, sending the Scarlet Knights to the break leading by 26.
- Gilles hit her third trey of the game in the middle of an 8-0 Rutgers run, finished by Mack's highly contested three-pointer at the end of the shot clock that banked into the net for a 51-18 lead.
- Rutgers didn't score over the final 4:56 as Marshall rallied for a 7-0 run, proving how valuable RU's early lead ended up being. Davenport scored her final five points on hoop-plus-harm plays, converting the three-point play to move her to 13 points with 4:56 to play.
- At 10-1, the Scarlet Knights signal their best start to a season since 2005-06, which ended in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet Sixteen.
- Since the switch to quarters format in 2015-16, Rutgers has never allowed two points or less in a single quarter as it did against Marshall in the opening stanza on Sunday. RU held Coppin State to three points in each the second and fourth quarters on Nov. 9 of this season.
- Ranked No. 7 in the nation in field goal percentage defense, Rutgers allowed just a .231 mark from the field on Sunday, lowering their season average to .304.
- Holding Marshall 27 points under their season scoring average, Rutgers has accomplished that feat in 10-of-11 games this season and 40 of its last 43 dating back to the start of last season.
- RU is 7-0 at home, moves to 21-0 over the last three seasons in non-conference home games and 52-5 overall in the last 57 at home.
- Rutgers did not commit a single turnover in the opening quarter.
- Rutgers made 11 three-pointers, tying the second highest output of the season. Heading into this season, 11 makes was the existing RAC record for RU before making 12 against Coppin State.
- With Migliore earning her first start at Rutgers, it was the first starting lineup this season that didn't consist of Guirantes, Mack, Wallace, Sanders and Gilles.
The Scarlet Knights break from game action for 13 days before Big Ten play begins at Wisconsin on Saturday, Dec. 28 at 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT). Rutgers hosts its Big Ten home opener on Tuesday, Dec. 31 at 3 p.m. against Indiana at the RAC.
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