PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Redshirt-sophomore guard Arella Guirantes fueled a fourth-quarter comeback for Rutgers women's basketball to capture a 60-54 victory over Minnesota in a BTN matchup on Thursday at the RAC. The win secures the No. 3 seed for the Scarlet Knights at the upcoming Big Ten Tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis and a crucial double bye into the quarterfinals. 

Prior to the contest, RU honored its graduating Scarlet Knights – Sierra Calhoun, Stasha Carey, Victoria Harris and Charise Wilson – in a Senior Knight ceremony prior to the contest.

The Scarlet Knights improved to an overall record of 20-8 and a Big Ten mark of 12-5, closing out the home slate with a 13-2 record. The Golden Gophers dropped to 19-9 overall and 8-9 in the league.

Guirantes posted a career-high and game-high 25 points, marking her third 20+ scoring effort of the year. Carey followed with 13 points and 11 rebounds for her third double-double of the season.

Minnesota was led by Destiny Pitts with 24 points, including six 3-pointers. Kenisha Bell followed with 14 points in the loss.

FIRST QUARTER
Rutgers and Minnesota traded points to start off the contest, as the Scarlet Knights held an 8-5 edge at the 5:30 mark. From there, the Gophers rallied with a 10-0 surge to move in front 15-8 with a minute to go in the first quarter.

Carey put together a 4-0 run of her own to close the frame with the margin set at 15-12.

SECOND QUARTER
The Scarlet Knight burst continued into the second quarter to pull within one, 17-16, in the early minutes. The Gophers' Pitts, however, ignited a solo 9-2 run that included three 3-pointers to extend Minnesota's lead to 26-18 midway through the stanza.

A Carey jumper and Noga Peleg Pelc 3-pointer stumped the run, bringing the gap to 26-23. The teams traded points for the remainder of the first half with Minnesota holding a 30-25 edge at the break.

THIRD QUARTER
Minnesota began the third quarter with a 7-3 surge to grow its lead by the largest margin of the night to 37-28. Guirantes, however, put a halt to the run by registering four-straight points to ignite an 8-0 run, closing the gap to 37-36 with 3:20 to go in the frame.

Despite the Scarlet Knight surge, Minnesota maintained the advantage with a 42-38 lead at the end of the quarter.

FOURTH QUARTER
Guirantes kick started RU in the fourth frame, posting four-straight points out of the gate to tie the score 42-42. Although Minnesota tacked on a jumper, Guirantes answered with layup followed by a Wilson jumper to put Rutgers in the lead, 46-44 with 7:12 on the clock.

The Gophers managed to tie it up once more before Guirantes ignited a 6-0 burst with the first four points to set a Scarlet Knight advantage, 52-46, for good with 5:01 to go.

Overall, Guirantes posted 14 points in the final quarter to rally the RU comeback, as the Scarlet Knights outscored the Gophers, 22-12, in the frame to capture the win.



UP NEXT
Rutgers wraps up the regular season at Ohio State on a Sunday matchup on BTN with Mike Monaco and Vera Jones on the call.

KNIGHT NOTES
- The victory, which will be credited to head coach C. Vivian Stringer, gives the hall of fame coach her 36^th 20-win season which ties former Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt for most 20-win seasons in a career.
- It is the first time since 2014-15 Rutgers has reached the 20-win mark during the regular season when RU headed into the Big Ten Tournament at 20-8 overall.
- The victory locks in the No. 3 seed at the upcoming Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament. It is the highest seed for the Scarlet Knights since joining the league in 2014.
- Arella Guirantes captured a new career high with 25 points surpassing her previous high of 24 against Penn State on Jan. 6.
- With 13 points and 11 rebounds, Stasha Carey registered her 20^th career double-double and third this season.
- Carey tied her season high with 11 rebounds having also hauled in 11 boards vs. St. Francis (Pa.) in the season opener on Nov. 6.
- Rutgers improved to 13-2 at home this season.
- The Scarlet Knights, who were outrebounded in the first matchup with Minnesota 44-31, led the Golden Gophers on the boards, 36-28.


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