PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers women's basketball (4-1) boasted five players in double-figures to power a 99-30 victory over Sacred Heart (1-2) on Sunday evening at the RAC.
The Scarlet Knights have now scored 80 or more points in three consecutive games for the first time since 1993-94, two seasons before
C. Vivian Stringer became the head coach. Surrounding the high-powered offense in a near-70-point win were 32 forced turnovers, 18 steals and a 45-27 rebounding advantage.
"We have the firepower and that's nice to see," said head coach
C. Vivian Stringer. "We're still a work in progress, but this coaching staff is extremely happy where this team is considering how untraditional our preseason was, and being behind in conditioning and training. The veterans know what they have to do and the freshmen are coming long at a nice pace to get us ready for the rest of Big Ten play."
The Scarlet Knights wasted little time on Sunday, breaking a 5-5 tie by scoring 20 consecutive points before another Pioneer bucket amid a dominant first quarter.
Zipporah Broughton,
Diamond Johnson and
Arella Guirantes were all in double-figures before halftime, as the defense allowed just a 17 percent shooting mark and forced 17 turnovers before heading into the locker room for the break.
Another monumental Rutgers run of 26-0 in the second half put the contest well out of reach as Johnson surpassed 20 points for the first time in her collegiate career and
Sakima Walker netted her young-career-high of 12 points.
Tyia Singleton, who has started all five games at center – her first five career starts, dropped 14 for her career-high to go with eight rebounds. Guirantes finished with 25 and 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season, while Johnson scored 21, making it five straight games to start her career scoring in double-digits. Broughton shot an efficient 5-of-9 for her 13 points next to a team-best eight assists and career-high seven steals.
The Pioneers connected on just 17 percent of their shots, finishing 8-of-48 from the floor.
The Scarlet Knights continue non-conference play on Wednesday, Dec. 23 against Manhattan at 12 p.m. ET at the RAC. Big Ten play resumes on the road at Iowa on Thursday, Dec. 31 at 3 p.m. ET.
NOTES
- Rutgers has scored 80+ points in three consecutive games for the first time since the 1993-94 season.
- RU fell one point shy of recording just the fourth 100-point game during C. Vivian Stringer's tenure at Rutgers since the 1995-96 season.
- The 32 forced turnovers were the most in a game since causing 38 against Penn State in 2014-15.
- At least four RU players scored in double-figures for the third straight game.
- Tyia Singleton scored a career-high 14, blowing by her previous high of eight.
- Arella Guirantes reached the 20-point plateau for the fourth time this season and 22nd time in her career. It was her ninth career double-double.
- Arella Guirantes now has 1,413 career points, tied for 16th in history of any player to wear the Rutgers uniform.
- Zipporah Broughton's career-high seven steals was one shy of the RAC record by an RU player.
- Diamond Johnson has scored in double-figures in all five games to start her collegiate career.
- Ranking second in the nation in steals per game with 16.0, Rutgers held pace with another 18 steals against Sacred Heart on Sunday.
- Rutgers has held all five opponents this season under their scoring average (Sacred Heart 64.0), adding up to 92 of its last 100.
- RU improves to 43-8 (.850) at the RAC since the beginning of the 2017-18 season.
- Rutgers moves to 2-0 all-time against Sacred Heart.
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