#25 Rutgers Women’s Basketball Winning Streak At 11 After Beating Penn State 70-65

The extreme cold temperatures continued in New Jersey on Saturday, but the Rutgers women’s basketball team stayed red hot on the court, winning its eleventh consecutive game at the RAC. They defeated Penn State (10-7; 1-3) by the score of 70-65 behind a strong performance from senior star Tyler Scaife. She tallied 29 points on 11 of 22 shooting and is only 2 points away from reaching 2,000 for her career. Guard Nigia Greene produced 16 points and forward Stasha Carey added 10 points, as well as 9 rebounds. Ciani Cryor dished out a game high 7 assists.

It was a relatively close game at the half, as Rutgers led the Nittany Lions 28-26. The Scarlet Knights came out of the locker room and asserted control of the game, outscoring Penn State 22-11 in the third quarter, capped by Scaife making a three-pointer as the buzzer sounded. Although Rutgers led 55-40 with just over 8 minutes to play, Penn State put up a fight and cut the lead to 64-63 with only 30 seconds remaining in the game. Scaife and Greene combined to make all six free throw attempts down the stretch to seal the win.

Rutgers remains undefeated at the RAC this season with an 11-0 record. The Scarlet Knights are now 16-2 overall, which is their best start since the 2007-2008 campaign. They are also 4-0 in Big Ten play and are just one of three teams that are undefeated in conference play. The others are Maryland and Ohio State, both of whom are 14-2 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten.

Head coach C. Vivian Stringer is now just seven victories away from 1,000 in her illustrious career. Rutgers is back in action on the road this Wednesday at Purdue (10-7; 1-2). They currently are 5th in the RPI rankings and continue to bolster a strong resume in what has been a major turnaround this season.

Update: Rutgers moves into the AP Poll for the first time since 2015.

Highlights

Postgame Press Conference