PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers women's basketball (9-19, 2-14) produced its highest-scoring second half of the season with 51 points, keeping pace with the No. 3 ranked offense in the country, the Iowa Hawkeyes (19-7, 13-4), who prevailed, 87-78, at Jersey Mike's Arena on Thursday evening.
The Scarlet Knights battled late into the game, trailing by just three points at 81-78 with 1:02 remaining after
Shug Dickson scored four consecutive points in a Rutgers run. The Hawkeyes answered with a bucket and got a stop before finishing the game from the free throw line. Iowa's Caitlin Clark scored 16 points in the final quarter to keep Iowa in the lead.
Dickson led Rutgers with a season-high 19 points on 9-of-18 shooting with four assists and three steals.
Lasha Petree and
Jailyn Mason both made three 3-point field goals on the way to 13 points apiece, while
Osh Brown added 12 points and fell one rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards.
Iowa needed a 60% field goal shooting performance for the nine-point win, while Rutgers outrebounded the Hawkeyes, 35-28, including 17 offensive rebounds leading to a 15-2 advantage in second-chance points. Rutgers also won the turnover battle, outscoring Iowa, 16-10, on points off miscues.
- Osh Brown started her night 3-of-3 from the floor for six points, but Iowa kept pace and pulled ahead, 17-10 at the end of the opening period.
- Lasha Petree's three-pointer and back-to-back successful drives to the hoop by Shug Dickson created a 7-0 Rutgers run to bring Rutgers within four at 21-17. Iowa's 13-2 run at the end of quarter gave the visitors a 39-27 lead at the break.
- Jailyn Mason, Sayawni Lassiter, and Victoria Morris made buckets while the defense stopped Iowa during a 6-0 run to pull within seven points early in the third. Rutgers tied its season-best output in a third quarter with 27 points, again keeping pace with the high-flying Hawkeyes, who led 62-54 after 30 minutes.
- Rutgers first cut the deficit to three points with 7:07 to play in the game following two Petree free throws and a Dickson jumper in the paint. Awa Sidibe made clutch buckets to keep it tight, part of her eight-point night. Clark took over with her 16 points in the frame to put the game just barely out of reach despite Rutgers' late fight.
- Lasha Petree made three 3-pointers in a game for the seventh time this season.
- Shug Dickson scored a season-high 19 points, her most in a game since 20 against Florida while playing for Mizzou last February in 2021.
- Jailyn Mason notched a season-high in a Big Ten contest with 13 points.
- Rutgers had four players score in double-figures for the sixth time this season.
- Rutgers has outrebounded 22 of 28 opponents this season with an average margin of +6.0, which ranks third in the Big Ten.
- Double-figure scoring career marks: Brown (86th), Lasha Petree (80th), Shug Dickson (48th), Jailyn Mason (49th).
- The Starting 5 of Sayawni Lassiter, Jailyn Mason, Lasha Petree, Tyia Singleton, and Osh Brown took the floor as the starting unit for the seventh time this season.
- Iowa is 11-3 in the all-time series , 8-1 as Big Ten regular season opponents, and 4-2 in Piscataway.
Rutgers wraps the 2021-22 regular season at Illinois on Sunday, Feb. 27 at 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT) streaming live on B1G+.
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