STORRS, Conn. – Facing a season-high 12 made 3-pointers and a strong fourth quarter surge by No. 10 Buffalo, the No. 7 Rutgers women's basketball team fell short in its quest to reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament with an 82-71 setback at Gampel Pavilion on Friday afternoon.

The Scarlet Knights trailed by eight early in the second quarter, but rebounded to take a 43-41 edge at the half.

Rutgers opened up the second half outscoring the Bulls 9-2 to lead by nine, 52-43, less than two minutes into the third quarter. Buffalo, however, countered with 10 unanswered. Four lead changes later, RU entered the final fame ahead 61-59.

The Bulls stormed ahead in the fourth quarter outscoring RU 23-10 to take the game.

Rutgers finishes the 2018-19 season at 22-10 overall.

The Scarlet Knights were led by the double-double effort of redshirt senior Stasha Carey with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Redshirt sophomore Arella Guirantes posted 14 points, while sophomore Tekia Mack added in 10 points from off the bench.

The Bulls boasted the nation's second leading scorer in Cierra Dillard who had 20 points in helping her squad advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight season. Teammate Summer Hemphill lead all scorers with 24 points, with Autumn Jones netting 12 in the win.

FIRST QUARTER
Rutgers began its tournament appearance hitting 4-of-6 from the field, but Buffalo was 3-of-6 from beyond the arc for a 13-12 edge at the first break.

A Carey "and-1" knotted the score at 15-15 at the 3:12 mark, but the Bulls would go out in front following a Jones fast break and remain ahead extending its lead 27-21 after the first 10 minutes expired.

SECOND QUARTER
Ten second quarter turnovers by the Bulls helped turn the tide for the Scarlet Knights. Trailing by 34-26 two minutes into the second stanza, RU went on to outscore Buffalo 17-7 to take a 43-41 lead into the break.

Back-to-back buckets by Mack gave the Scarlet Knights their first lead since five-minute mark of the first quarter and Jordan Wallace helped cap at 14-2 run that put RU up, 40-36, with 1:52 to go.

Mael Gilles later added in a shot from downtown for the Scarlet Knights' largest lead of the half at 48-43, but Hanna Hall dropped in a 3-pointer for the Bulls to close the half down 43-41.

THIRD QUARTER
Rutgers went out on an 8-0 run to kick off the second half for its largest lead of the game at 43-52 less than two minutes into the third quarter.
Buffalo, however, responded on a 10-0 run to regain the lead.

After a Hempell layup to give the Bulls a 54-53 edge at the four-minute mark, the two squads traded leads. Rutgers went on a run with seven unanswered, but once again the Bulls sunk in a shot before the quarter buzzer as the Scarlet Knights hung ontp to a 61-59 advantage.

FOURTH QUARTER
The Scarlet Knights opened with a Carey layup before Buffalo took control of the final stanza. A Wilkins three and five-straight points by Hemphill put the Bulls up for good.

Rutgers tied the game up three times, the last with a Victoria Harris jumper in the paint. The four-year Scarlet Knight letterwinner knotted the game at 69-69 with 4:55 remaining, but Buffalo would only allow RU a layup from Carey the rest of the way.
 
KNIGHT NOTES

• Buffalo was one of only two teams to score above their average against the Scarlet Knights the entire 2018-19 season. The Bulls entered the tournament scoring 76.1 points per game and netted 81 against Rutgers.
• Buffalo's Ciera Dillard, the nation's second leading scorer, was held to 20 points or fewer for only the seventh time this season. Dillard averaged 25.2 points per game.
• Stasha Carey captured her fourth double-double of her redshirt senior season and 21^st of her career. It also marked the fifth time she reached the 20-point mark and the 11^th time she led RU in scoring this season.
• Stasha Carey finishes her career with 1,227 career points. Charise Wilson wraps up her career with 1,665 points.
• Victoria Harris logged 480 points and 523 rebounds in her four seasons "On The Banks".
• Zipporah Broughton, in her third career start and getting the nod at the point, tied her season-high with six assists. She also had six in the home finale with Minnesota on Feb. 28.

Acting Head Coach Timothy Eatman
Opening Statement – "We want to thank our seniors. I told them a few minutes ago, we didn't talk about the game or what happened. What Victoria (Harris), Stasha (Carey), and Charise (Wilson) did for Rutgers basketball and the Rutgers community is phenomenal. It's been four years since we've been to the NCAA Tournament and for those kids to fight the way they did, having seven healthy bodies, tried to play as hard as they could, we are really, really proud of them. We couldn't ask for a better group to represent us. Time down the line, people are going to remember them because they are the group that got us back to where we needed to be. Rutgers basketball has always been a proud program and Coach Stringer with the foundation she has laid; now we are going to start seeing the fruits of that labor."

On the difference in the fourth quarter – "We had a freshman point guard on the court who we felt has grown up a lot this year, but we couldn't get a sub for her. We played down to our last seven players and we appreciate what Jordan Wallace did. She hadn't practiced for the last week and a half and she gave us some quality minutes out there. But at the end of the day, we had seven healthy bodies and we are trying to fight and claw. I think we made some mistakes because we wanted it so bad. That calmness we needed in the moment we needed, we didn't have it. I think I needed to do a better job with them, calming them down, making sure we were settled when we needed to be. I still thought we got good looks, we were right there at the rim but we just didn't make some open shots. At the end of the day, not having enough bodies to do what we do and to do it the way we want to do it, I think it just bit us in the butt a bit."

Rutgers Student-Athlete Stasha Carey
On the last few weeks of the season – "There's been a lot of challenges. A lot of you don't know it but we have been through a lot, especially without our coach. She's prepared us for it, working in day in and day out. The whole coaching staff coming together to make sure we are prepared for everything. And just to be able to have this group of girls come this far, it says a lot and it means a lot to me. They are going to be back. Rutgers basketball will be back. This may have been a little blip but they will be back." Rutgers

Student-Athlete Tekia Mack
On the last few weeks of the season and tonight's game – "This is the first time for me making the tournament and what I took away from this is you have got to fight for 40 minutes. You either go down punching and kicking, or you lay down for the next team. We fought for as long as we could but things happen, it's March. Some teams get here more prepared than others and things happen. Like Stasha said, without a doubt, my goal every year is to get back to this tournament."

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