PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Rutgers women's basketball (4-5) dropped its Big Ten/ACC Challenge contest at Pittsburgh (6-2) on Wednesday evening at the Petersen Events Center.
The Panthers punched back in the third quarter after trailing by 10 early in the second, scoring 17 points in the frame to retake a lead heading into the fourth. After an
Osh Brown three-point play to tie the game at 50-50 with three minutes remaining, the Panthers finished the game with eight unanswered points over the final two minutes.
Shug Dickson led Rutgers with 10 points, while
Jailyn Mason added eight and four assists.
Pittsburgh, which entered the game with a +13.6 rebound margin this season, led 40-33 on the boards on Wednesday. RU committed a season-low 16 turnovers and outscored Pitt, 22-20, in the paint, but an imbalanced 31-4 discrepancy in free throw attempts in Pittsburgh's favor and a 14-7 edge in second-chance points helped create the final advantage.
- Shug Dickson scored six first-quarter points as Pittsburgh opened 3-of-16 from the floor (19%) and RU led 15-10.
- Rutgers led by as many as 10 three minutes into the second period. The Panthers' offense bounced back with a 7-0 run to end the second quarter after five Scarlet Knights combined for their 11 points, helping RU take a 26-23 advantage into intermission.
- Pittsburgh opened the new half on a 5-0 run, took back the lead, and later used a 8-0 spurt to go up 39-34.
- Rutgers suffered an untimely scoring drought of just over three minutes midway through the final quarter as the Panthers went ahead 49-45. The Panthers didn't make a field goal for nearly five minutes late into the fourth, but made six free throws to maintain a slim lead despite a crucial Osh Brown three-point play with 2:57 remaining. RU went scoreless for three minutes as another Pitt 8-0 run sealed the deal.
- Rutgers has held opponents under their scoring average in 26 of its last 28, and 113 of its last 123 dating back to 2017-18.
- True freshman Kierra Sanderlin started her career 3-of-3 from long range, hitting her first two shots from deep against Pitt for six points. She has averaged 7.0 points per game over the last two contests in an average of just eight minutes played.
- Shug Dickson reached double-digit scoring for the 41st time in her career.
- Tyia Singleton had two blocks. Ranking fourth in the Big Ten last year, she continues the trend with Top 5 conference ranking with 1.4 blocks per game.
- Rutgers had six blocks in a game as a team for the fifth time this season.
- Rutgers is undefeated at 4-0 when outscoring opponents in points off turnovers and points on the fast break. RU is 0-5 when trailing in those specialty categories.
- The Starting 5 of Jailyn Mason, Shug Dickson, Lasha Petree, Tyia Singleton, and Osh Brown took the opening tip for the second consecutive game. It is the seventh different starting variation employed by acting head coach Timothy Eatman this season.
- Rutgers is now 26-4 all-time against Pittsburgh, an old Big East opponent. This was the first matchup since 2012.
Rutgers returns home to begin Big Ten play against another Top 10 opponent on Sunday, Dec. 5 against No. 8 Maryland at Jersey Mike's Arena at 2 p.m. and live on Big Ten Network.
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