PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 24 Rutgers women's basketball (14-3, 10-3) remained undefeated at 9-0 since returning from its five-week pause, beating No. 22/20 Ohio State (13-7, 9-7) on Senior Night at the RAC, 71-63.
The Scarlet Knights get their second ranked victory during the nine-game conference winning streak, the longest in the program since 2004-05. It locks up the No. 3 seed at next week's Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis, tied for the team's best finish in the Big Ten since joining before the 2014-15 season.
Rutgers honored
Arella Guirantes,
Tekia Mack, and
Mael Gilles on Senior Night, and the trio celebrated with exceptional production, in turn. Guirantes grabbed a double-double with a game-high 20 points and her 10 rebounds, Mack netted 11 with five boards, four assists and two blocked shots, while Gilles added six points, five rebounds, two helpers and a pair of blocks.
Tyia Singleton recorded her first career double-double with career-high marks on both ends – 18 points and 13 rebounds – not to mention the career-high six blocks and leading Rutgers to tie its highest team block total in a Big Ten game at 12. The defense stifled a nationally ranked Ohio State offense scoring 81.1 points per game nearly 20 points under that average.
Rutgers gained the early 15-7 advantage with a 7-0 run toward the end of the first with all five starters contributing at least two points. The quarter ended with RU's 13-2 rally and a 21-9 lead. The Buckeyes chipped away at the beginning of the second, but a pair of three-pointers from
Liz Martino kept RU in front, the second of which came during a 7-0 spurt capped by another Singleton bucket for the 37-22 advantage.
Guirantes took over in the third with 11 points in the quarter, with the RU lead in double-digits most of the period. The Buckeyes crept closer in the fourth with a 6-0 run with 3:25 to play to cut their deficit to nine, but Singleton quickly stomped out the comeback attempt with a pair of buckets to put the advantage on ice.
RU will await the official Big Ten Tournament bracket to be released late Saturday evening. Rutgers will play the fourth and final quarterfinal game around 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 11 against the winner of the No. 6 and No. 11 seeds on Fox Sports 2.
NOTES
- Rutgers ties for its highest finish in Big Ten play since joining the conference in 2014-15 (also finished in third in 2018-19). Rutgers is guaranteed to play in a Big Ten quarterfinal for the sixth time in seven trips to the conference tournament.
- Rutgers continues its longest winning streak in the Big Ten at nine-straight and has its first nine-game conference winning streak since the 2005-06 team went 16-0 in the Big East before making the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Overall, that team was on a 24-game winning streak in the Big East dating back to the 2004-05 season.
- Rutgers tied its record for most blocks in a Big Ten game with 12, the most since 12 against Michigan State in 2016.
- Tyia Singleton reached three career-highs in her first career double-double – 18 points (passing 17), 13 rebounds (passing 11) and six blocks (passing five).
- Zipporah Broughton returned to the floor for the first time since Dec. 31, missing the last nine games.
- Arella scored 20+ for the 10th time this season, and 28th time in her career.
- Arella Guirantes has 1,646 career points, the 11th most of any player to wear the Scarlet Knights uniform.
- RU leads the Big Ten with 56.2 points allowed per game and a 20.2 average scoring margin.
- Rutgers finishes the regular season leading the Big Ten in steals per game at 12.7, ranking fifth in the nation.
- RU has outscored opponents in the paint in 16 of 17 games this season.
- RU improves to 11-0 when holding the lead at half.
- Rutgers moves to 49-8 at the RAC since the start of 2017-18.
- Ohio State leads the all-time series, 12-7, and 6-3 in Big Ten regular season contests. The Scarlet Knights have won three-straight over the Buckeyes.
- Holding the Buckeyes under their scoring average of 81.1, Rutgers has accomplished that feat in 16 of 17 games this season and in 103 of its last 112 since the start of the 2017-18 season.
- C. Vivian Stringer rolled out the Starting Five of Diamond Johnson, Arella Guirantes, Mael Gilles, Tekia Mack and Tyia Singleton for the 10th time this season in consecutive games.
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