ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands – Rutgers women's basketball (4-4) fell to 2021 NCAA Tournament runner-up No. 9/12 Arizona (7-0) by a score of 80-44 to complete the Paradise Jam on Saturday afternoon at the University of the Virgin Islands.
Osh Brown led Rutgers with nine points and five boards, while
Shug Dickson netted eight while making her first start as a Scarlet Knight. Freshman
Kierra Sanderlin scored a young-career-high eight points on 3-of-4 shooting with her first collegiate three-pointer.
Rutgers was outrebounded for the first time this season, 31-28, and shot .342 from the floor with 30 turnovers. Arizona connected on 52% of its shots and outscored RU 31-18 on points off turnovers.
- Osh Brown scored the lone points of the opening period at the 4:20 mark. The Wildcats led 12-2 after 10 minutes.
- Arizona opened up a big lead with a 34-6 second quarter.
- RU ended the third on an 8-3 run with Osh Brown reaching seven points and Kierra Sanderlin beating the buzzer on a fadeaway jumper.
- The Scarlet Knights broke out in the fourth with 20 points, led by Kierra Sanderlin's personal six-point run on an old-fashioned three and a long-range three. Stephanie Guihon scored five points in the fourth, including a hoop-and-harm conversion in the final seconds.
- Rutgers is in its fifth Paradise Jam and own four Paradise Jam titles from 2004, 2009, and 2015, with Michelle Campbell, Brittany Ray, and Kahleah Copper taking tournament MVP honors in respective years.
- Rutgers made the fourth quarter its highest-scoring period for the seventh time in eight games.
- All 16 rostered players saw minutes in the Arizona contest.
- Kierra Sanderlin, in her second collegiate game, scored a young-career-high eight points.
- Rutgers is undefeated at 4-0 when outscoring opponents in points off turnovers and points on the fast break. RU is 0-4 when trailing in those specialty categories.
- The Starting 5 of Jailyn Mason, Shug Dickson, Lasha Petree, Tyia Singleton, and Osh Brown is the seventh different starting variation employed by acting head coach Timothy Eatman this season.
- Arizona is 3-0 in the series against Rutgers following wins in 1988 and 1999.
- Rutgers played its first Top 10 team since a 62-48 loss to No. 10/8 Maryland on Feb. 10, 2019.
Rutgers plays its first true road game of the season on Wed., Dec. 1 at Pittsburgh in the 2021 B1G/ACC Challenge, tipping off at 6 p.m. on ACC Network.
Follow Rutgers women's basketball on Twitter and Instagram (@RutgersWBB) for all of the latest news and updates. The team is also on Facebook (
www.facebook.com/RutgersWBB). For all Rutgers Athletics news follow us on Twitter(@RUAthletics), Instagram (@RUAthletics), Snapchat (@RUAthletics) and Facebook (
www.facebook.com/RutgersAthletics). For additional updates, please download the
Gameday App.
- RU -
