PISCATAWAY, N.J. – In a rematch of the Big Ten's top teams, No. 20/24 Rutgers women's basketball fell to No. 10/8 Maryland, 62-48, on Sunday afternoon at the RAC. The contest marked the annual Play4Kay game for the Scarlet Knights in support of Breast Cancer Awareness.

Rutgers moved to a record of 17-6 overall and a mark of 9-3 in the Big Ten. Maryland improved to 22-2 overall and 11-2 in the league. The season series between the Scarlet Knights and Terrapins this year was split 1-1, as RU claimed a 73-65 win over then-No. 4 UMD on the road in December.

Redshirt sophomore guard Arella Guirantes led the Scarlet Knights with a game-high 20 points, marking her second 20+ scoring effort of the season and fourth of her career. Redshirt senior forward Stasha Carey followed with 15 points to go with seven rebounds for RU.

Maryland was led by Kaila Charles with 17 points followed by Stephanie Jones with 12 points and seven rebounds.

FIRST HALF
Maryland leapt to a 7-0 lead to open up the contest. Redshirt junior guard Ciani Cryor ended the run with a layup for the Scarlet Knights, which would ignite a defensive battle on the court.

The teams would then both enter a scoring drought for the following three minutes. The Terrapins, however, broke through with a 11-0 run, including five points at the charity stripe, to extend its lead by 16 points.

Guirantes tacked on a layup to end the frame, setting the margin at 18-4. Rutgers shot just 17 percent (2-of-12) in the opening ten minutes.

Rutgers carried momentum into the second quarter, going on a 10-2 run to cut into the deficit, 20-12, with 6:56 on the clock.

Maryland's Sara Vujacic stumped the surge with a 3-pointer, sending the teams on a back-and-forth trade of points. The Scarlet Knights cut the gap to single digits on multiple occasions, but the Terps managed to hold the lead with a 34-21 advantage at the break.

SECOND HALF
The squads traded points throughout with either finding a large run, but UMD edged the scoring 19-13 to hold a double-digit lead throughout the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Rutgers would outscore Maryland 14-9 in the frame. A 7-0 run in the latter half of the stanza cut a once 22-point advantage down to 60-46.

The gap, however, was too large to overcome as Maryland held on for the win to even the season series between the squads.



KNIGHT NOTES

• Rutgers has kept all 23 opponents to-date under its scoring average. Maryland entered Sunday's contest averaging 76.3 points per game and scored 62 in the win.
• Sunday's loss stopped Rutgers' home win streak at 11. It marked the first setback at the RAC this season for the Scarlet Knights.
• Arella Guirantes led the team in scoring for the seventh time in 2018-19 with her team-high 20 points. Guirantes reached the 20+ point mark for the second time this season and fifth time in her career.
• Guirantes finished the game 4-of-4 from the line marking the fifth time this season she has gone perfect from the charity stripe.
• Maryland shot 53.5 percent (23-of-43) from the field marking the best shooting percentage in a game by a RU opponent this season.
• The Terps' 24 turnovers were the most by a Big Ten opponent against the Scarlet Knights this season. Maryland tied their season-high in turnovers with 24 also having 24 turnovers against Dayton on Nov. 11 in an 82-71 win. 

UP NEXT
Rutgers remains home to host Ohio State on Thursday, Feb. 14. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the RAC.

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