MINNEAPOLIS — The No. 11 seeded Rutgers women's basketball team (12-19, 5-13 B1G) defeated No. 14 Northwestern (9-10, 2-16 B1G), 63-59, on Wednesday evening in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.
Kaylene Smikle scored a dominant 21 points in the first half on her way to 26 total points to lead the Scarlet Knights on offense. She added four three's in addition to five rebounds and four steals in the outing.
With a three to start off the second quarter, Smikle became the all-time leading freshman in program history, ending the contest with 551 points. Earlier this slate, she became the third rookie in program history to hit the 500-point milestone.
Chyna Cornwell also showed out for her team, recording a monster 15-point and 16-rebound double-double. The junior added three blocks against the Wildcats as well.
Awa Sidibe and Kai Carter added 11 points apiece to round out the group of four in double figure scoring.
How it Happened
- Both programs struggled to score in the opening minutes, as Northwestern only earned two points between the two teams in the opening three minutes of play.
- The Wildcats followed up with two more points before Smikle added her first bucket of the game to make it a 4-2 difference at the 5:58 media timeout.
- Following the break, the Scarlet Knights added a free throw, but NU stayed in front at the 4:24 mark, 10-3. Carter rallied for the team, scoring five points on back-to-back possessions to make the score 13-8.
- Smikle and Sidibe continued the strong offensive play for RU, adding consecutive buckets to further shrink the gap to one point, 13-12.
- Rutgers wasn't done yet though, as Smikle cashed in on a big three-point play to give the team its first lead of the day, 15-13.
- Both teams secured a three before the end of the quarter to end the first 10 minutes with the Scarlet Knights in front, 20-16. Smikle kept the momentum going in the second quarter hitting a three-pointer to give her 537 career points and break the all-time freshman scoring record.
- Carter followed it up with two points to give RU the nine-point edge, 25-16.
- The Wildcats came back with a three of their own in addition to two free throws to make the score 25-21.
- Cornwell secured a layup but Northwestern answered with three points in a row to cut the lead, 27-25, with 4:35 to play.
- RU went onto score 10 unanswered points, including seven from Smikle, to stay in front, 34-25, with 2:36 to go in the second quarter.
- The Wildcats didn't go into the locker room quietly however, netting five in-a-row to end the opening half with a score of 37-30.
- Both teams started off trading possessions to start the third, but the Scarlet Knights still owned the 40-35 advantage at the 6:21 mark.
- RU broke through, going on a five-point spurt to stay ahead, 46-37 at the 3:52 media timeout.
- Northwestern attempted to generate some momentum on offense, hitting a three with seconds left in the quarter but Rutgers still ended on top, 51-43.
- NU started off the final quarter of play on another five-point run in the first three minutes of action to cut the deficit to three, 51-48, and force a Rutgers' timeout.
- The Wildcats continued their hot streak out of the stop, hitting a three to tie the score up, 51-all.
- Sidibe put an end to the stretch with a driving layup to regain the lead and forced a NU timeout just under the halfway point of the period.
- With just under four minutes to go, NU evened up the score once again with a layup, 53-53. It didn't last for long however, as RU added four free throws to get back in front, 57-53. Cornwell extended the advantage with a layup to stay ahead by six points, 59-53.
- With just over a minute to play, Northwestern hit a three, 59-56, to close the gap. Carter hit two shots from the charity stripe to give Rutgers the five-point edge, 61-56, as the clock continued to wind to 26 seconds.
- With 8.9 seconds left, the Wildcats netted another three to make it a two-point game, 61-59. The Scarlet Knights used their final timeout to advance the ball.
Knight Notes
- Rutgers has now won a first-round game in the Big Ten Tournament in back-to-back seasons. The team defeated Penn State (75-50) last season in the opening round.
- The Scarlet Knights evened out the all-time series against the Wildcats, 7-7.
- With a three to start the second quarter, Smikle became Rutgers' all-time freshman leading scorer. She passed Tyler Scaife (536) and currently has 551 points.
- Smikle recorded her 26th double digit and 14th 20+ point performance of the season with 26 points. She has netted 10+ points in 18 of the last 19 games and has led the team in scoring in 19 outings. She leads the team with 17.8 points per game including 19.5 per game in Big Ten play.
- Smikle added to her team-leading 55 makes from behind the arc. She has at least one three-pointer in all but two contests this season.
- The freshman also paces the team with 68 steals, earning four takeaways against Northwestern. She has recorded 3+ steals on 13 occasions and led the team in the statistic 15 times during the season.
- Cornwell paces the team with nine double-doubles, including four in Big Ten play. The Scarlet Knights have combined for 11 double-doubles this season.
- The junior leads the team with 8.7 boards per game and has reached 15+ rebounds on three occasions.
- Cornwell's 16 rebounds on Wednesday evening set the new Big Ten Tournament program high. The previous best of 15 was set by Betnijah Laney against Indiana (March 5, 2015).
Gallery: (3-1-2023) Rutgers vs. NU (B1G Tournament First Rd)
Next Up
Rutgers will go onto face (RV) Illinois in the sixth game of the Big Ten Tournament. The contest will begin 25 minutes following the completion of the fifth game, which starts at 6:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 2.
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