EVANSTON, Ill. – Osh Brown's monster double-double and the Scarlet Knights' best three-point shooting of the season led the charge in a near 15-point comeback, but Rutgers women's basketball (7-11, 0-6) came up one possession short and lost 68-63 at Northwestern (11-4, 3-1) on Thursday evening at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
 
It was a short-notice trip for the Scarlet Knights, who were supposed to have a bye-week before being informed on Monday of the Thursday trip. Still, the trademark fight remained in Rutgers, who despite going down by 15 late in the third quarter, mounted a furious comeback and trailed by one after Joiya Maddox's miraculous four-point play with 1:34 to go. The Wildcats used a steal and a fast-break layup with 45 seconds left, and another steal on Rutgers' final potential game-tying possession to seal the home win.
 
Brown led all scorers with 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting and an 8-of-8 mark from the free throw line. She grabbed 16 rebounds before fouling out with two minutes left in the game. Maddox exploded for 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including a perfect night from Three Point Land at 3-of-3. Lasha Petree added 11 points with three makes of her own from beyond the arc.
 
Rutgers dominated the glass, 33-20, and used its best three-point and free throw shooting performances of the season to keep it close, but 20 turnovers, including two fateful miscues in the closing minutes, proved to be the difference.

RU serious Joiya? pic.twitter.com/CUg86I5wJI

— Rutgers W.Basketball (@RutgersWBB) January 14, 2022

HOW IT HAPPENED

• All three of Rutgers' buckets in the first came from beyond the arc, two by Lasha Petree and a long one from Shug Dickson. The defense started hot, as well, holding the Wildcats to 31 percent from the floor over the opening 10 minutes for an 11-10 lead after one.
• An 11-0 Northwestern run shifted momentum to the home side, but Osh Brown went to work with six points over the final 4:13 of the half to keep the Wildcat advantage to 32-25 at the half.
• The Wildcats' 9-0 spurt midway through the third gave them their first 15-point lead at 46-31, but the comeback started with a 10-2 Rutgers run to end the period, led by Sayawni Lassiter's three-ball and two free throws to go with a three-point play from Brown.
• NU's largest run of the fourth was five points as they last saw a double-digit lead at 60-50 with 6:40 to play. From there, another Brown and-one and lights out three-point shooting from Maddox and Petree – the last of which was a four-point play from Maddox after a foul at 1:34 – got Rutgers within one at 64-63 before two turnovers allowed the Wildcats to maintain the slim lead and hit free throws down the final stretch.

We got a game. pic.twitter.com/wi1Z7fcqPL

— Rutgers W.Basketball (@RutgersWBB) January 14, 2022

KNIGHT NOTES

• Osh Brown recorded her fifth double-double of the season, and the 54^th of her career (the most among all active NCAA Division I women's basketball players).
• Joiya Maddox had her highest scoring output (12) since her career-high 14 on Nov. 9, 2019.
• Rutgers enjoyed its best three-point shooting performance of the season, connecting on 8-of-19 for 42 percent from beyond the arc.
• Lasha Petree made three 3-point field goals in a game for the third time this season.
• RU matched its best free throw shooting performance of the season (13-of-14, .929) from the Stony Brook win on Nov. 16.
• Outrebounding Northwestern, 33-20, Rutgers has now outperformed 15 of 18 opponents this season on the glass with an average margin of +6.7 on the entire season.
• Double-figure scoring career marks: Brown (77^th), Petree (74^th), Maddox (2^nd)
• The Starting 5 of Shug Dickson, Sayawni Lassiter, Lasha Petree, Tyia Singleton, and Osh Brown took the floor for the third time this season as a starting unit.
• Rutgers is now 5-7 all-time against Northwestern, 3-6 as Big Ten regular season opponents, and 1-5 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

UP NEXT

Rutgers hosts Wisconsin on Sun., Jan. 16 at 2 p.m. at Jersey Mike's Arena, presented by R Fund. The game will be streamed on B1G+.


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