Rutgers Women’s Basketball Stuns #4 Maryland 73-65

The Rutgers women’s basketball team closed out 2018 in grand fashion, upsetting #4 and previously unbeaten Maryland on the road Monday afternoon. Entering the fourth quarter tied at 47, the Scarlet Knights scored 26 points in the final frame to win the game 73-65.

Leading by 1 point with just over five minutes to play, Rutgers finished the game on a 16-9 run to secure the program’s highest ranked win since 2009. Stasha Carey scored 6 of her game high 18 points during this deciding stretch to help close out the game. She added 6 rebounds and 2 steals in the winning effort.

Four players scored in double figures in the win. CC Cryor was fantastic all-around, producing 12 points, 11 assists, 9 rebounds and 3 steals. Charise Wilson and Noga Peleg Pelc each made two three-pointers, both finishing with 10 points in the victory.

As a team, Rutgers shot just 39.1% from the floor, but made 9 of 21 from three-point range for 42.9%. In addition, they made 14 of 15 free throw attempts, including 11 of 12 in the fourth quarter. They held a +10 rebounding margin and held them 20 below their season average. RU edged Maryland in several other key categories: fast break points (18-9); second chance points (15-7); points off of turnovers (19-10); and bench points (37-10).

Maryland was 12-0 entering the game owns a 24 point victory over previously top ten ranked South Carolina from earlier this season.

Rutgers lost to Maryland by 46 points combined in two defeats last season, but came through in a huge way on New Year’s Eve in its first road game of the new conference season. They have now won four games in a row with a perfect month of December. They include wins over Harvard and LSU, as well as beating Northwestern last weekend. Rutgers is now 9-3 overall this season and 2-0 in Big Ten play after stunning the Terps on their home floor. Next up, they’ll host Brown this Friday, January 4th before resuming conference play Sunday, January 6th against Penn State at the RAC.