#20 Rutgers Women’s Basketball Wins 9th Game In A Row In OT Thriller Over Purdue

The 20th ranked Rutgers women’s basketball team remained unbeaten in Big Ten play and won its ninth consecutive game on Wednesday night, defeating Purdue 65-63 in overtime. It wasn’t easy, as the visiting Boilermakers came back from 14 points down with less than five minutes to play to send the game into extra time, holding the Scarlet Knights scoreless during its epic run. Fortunately, Rutgers was able to regroup and close out the victory in front of the RAC faithful.

It was a low scoring, tight affair in the opening frame and this three-pointer from Noga Peleg Pelc gave Rutgers a 24-22 lead at halftime. She finished with 6 points in the game.

Charise Wilson hit a three-pointer to put Rutgers up 54-40 with five minutes to play, but it was the last points they would score in regulation, as Purdue closed out the fourth quarter on a 14-0 run.

Wilson made her second three-pointer of the night when Rutgers needed it most to give them a four point lead with less than two minutes to play in overtime. She finished the game with 10 points, 3 assists, and 2 steals.

Stasha Carey had a big night as she eclipsed the 1,000th point mark of her career and closed out the game making 6 consecutive free throws to seal the victory for Rutgers. She finished the game with 11 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 assists.

In addition, Rutgers was led in scoring by Arella Guirantes for the sixth time this season. She finished with 17 points on 8 of 13 shooting, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. It was the eighth time this season she has scored in double figures. Ciani Cryor added 9 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals in the win.

As a team, Rutgers shot 41.2% from the field and made 5 of 14 attempts from behind the arc for 35.7%. They continued to shoot very well from the free throw line, making 18 of 22 attempts for 81.8%. Defensively, they forced 20 Purdue turnovers which led to an 18-7 edge in points off of turnovers in the game. The one surprise was that Purdue held a 40-26 advantage on the boards, including +8 on the offensive glass. That resulted in the Boilermakers having a 17-4 edge in second chance points. However, Rutgers still held them to 36.5% shooting overall and continued its streak of holding every opponent this season below their scoring average. Purdue dropped to 13-6 overall and 4-2 in Big Ten action.

Rutgers is now 14-3 for the season and 6-0 in conference play, as they sit atop the Big Ten standings as the last unbeaten team in the league. They are also 9-0 at the RAC and will face #17 Michigan State (12-4; 2-3) this Sunday, January 20th at 2 p.m. in Piscataway. The game will be broadcast on BTN Plus here ($) and you can listen to WCTC 1450 AM radio here. It’s also Military Appreciation Day and tickets can be purchased here.