Rutgers women’s basketball officially got the Gary Redus II era underway with a win over Long Island. The Scarlet Knights ran back their starting lineup from Friday’s exhibition victory over Caldwell, with Mia Pauldo, Tara Daye, Jaylah Lampley, Zachara Perkins, and Natassja Kolff taking the floor for the opening tip.
Lampley got the scoring started on a steal and layup for Rutgers’ first official points of the 2026-27 season, while Zachara Perkins cashed in a three-pointer from the right corner as Mia
Pauldo directed the offense, scoring four early points to put the Knights up 10-9 at the first media timeout ahead of the four-minute mark. Rutgers played a full-court press at times, but the Sharks were able to break through it with strong shooting early on.
After LIU cashed in on two early threes by forward Leila Nunez, the Sharks cooled off while the Scarlet Knights capitalized with a 9-0 run over the next 2:20. Freshman Chikae Desdunes knocked down a three, while Pauldo turned on the jets for a layup.
Lester showed off her post footwork and hit a jumper over the Sharks’ defenders to put RU up 19-9 before Janessa Williams answered for LIU with an off-the-glass three. However, Pauldo found a wide-open Desdunez in the right corner, and the Knights finished the first quarter up 22-12.
Rutgers began the second quarter by extending their lead, with a Daye attempted layup resulting in two free throws to give the Knights a 26-12 lead. Lampley knocked down a right-corner three assisted by Daye before Nunez cut the scoring drought with another banked-in three from the top of the key.
With Zennia Thomas adding a layup, the Knights found themselves ahead 35-16 at the midpoint of the second frame. However, a scoring drought from the floor for Rutgers lasted over three and a half minutes, and the Sharks were able to cut the lead to sixteen.
Rutgers was able to snap their own scoring drought with Daye scoring a pair of layups, the second coming off a long pass from Mia Pauldo in transition. The two teams exchanged jumpers, with Thomas and LIU forward Laura Molnarova keeping the margin at 20 before a Pauldo one-handed push shot extended the lead to 22, as the Scarlet Knights led Long Island 45-23 at the end of the first half.
Camille Wiley knocked down a three for the Sharks to begin the third quarter, but Mia Pauldo’s defensive effort resulted in a steal and score the other way. After Molnarova came up short on a three, the twin sisters connected as Mia found Mya for another right-corner three, and the Knights went up by 27 when Mia Pauldo found Lampley under the rim for an easy layup.
With Rutgers doubling Long Island’s score 56-28 at the third-quarter media timeout, the Scarlet Knights completed an extended 12-1 run while forcing nine turnovers and holding the Sharks to no field goals in roughly the same five-minute span. However, the Knights went cold towards the end of the period from the field, with Perkins adding a pair at the charity stripe. Rutgers ended the quarter with a wild sequence, nearly turning the ball over, but with Jaylah Lampley scoring a layup and the Knights leading 64-34.
The final quarter began with a pair of steals by Mia Pauldo and Lampley, before Pauldo knocked down her first three of the night after doing just about everything else on the court for Rutgers. Janessa Williams had a nice layup on the other end before rattling home a three; in the middle was a vicious block on Lampley from her that resulted in a foul.
Rutgers extended their lead to 77-41 following a Desdunes steal that led to Pauldo pump-faking her defender outside the arc before getting downhill and drawing an and-one; the standout transfer also knocked down her second three of the game before the final media timeout inside of five minutes remaining.
Long Island got hot, making four of five field goals as Williams crossed the 20-point mark. But the game was settled as the Scarlet Knights led 80-47 at the two-minute mark. Redus checked in Lauryn Swann, Deja Young, PreciousGem Wheeler, Hope Masonius, and Kennedy Brandt; Swann was the only player to have previously played up to that point in the contest.
Wheeler was fouled twice, going 2-for-4 as the Knights led 82-49 with under a minute remaining. Wheeler picked up a couple of rebounds, with Brandt securing one and Masonius having a deflection as the game wound down. Swann was fouled on her way to the rim and split a pair to put the finishing touches on an 83-52 victory.
Mya Pauldo was the star of the game, finishing with 21 points on 7-for-21 shooting (2-10 from deep). She was the best player on the court, also leading the team with five assists and seven rebounds, which is all the more impressive at her 5’ 6” stature. The skilled guard from Paterson regularly found open teammates for threes and layups while creating her own looks, and she also led the Knights with six steals defensively.
Zachara Perkins and Imani Lester were the only other Knights in double figures with 11 and 10, respectively, while Lampley was just behind with nine points and four rebounds. Tara Daye added eight in her return to New Jersey, while Natasha Kolff had a quiet night with just one point and one rebound. Chikae Desdunes added eight points while going two-for-four from downtown, and Howard transfer Zennia Thomas added six points and four rebounds in her Rutgers debut. Mya Pauldo had six points on a rough shooting night, going 2-8 from the field and 1-4 from downtown.
For Long Island, it was quite the night for Janessa Williams, who led all scorers with 22 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the field and 4-for-5 from three-point range. She also had eight rebounds, the second most behind Molnarova. Leila Nunez cashed in on three triples, finishing in double figures with 10 points while also coming up with three blocks.
Despite shooting just 35% from the field, the Scarlet Knights generated 79 shots and converted 28 of them while holding the Sharks to 18-40. The percentages leave something to be desired, as RU was a frigid 23% from deep, while Long Island converted on 8-of-15 threes. Both teams left tons of points at the free-throw line, with the Knights going 20-for-34 from the charity stripe (59%), while the Sharks were even worse at 8-for-22 (36%).
But on defense, the Knights made no mistake, generating 33 turnovers and scoring 42 points off of them while only turning over the ball ten times themselves. Rutgers also outrebounded LIU 47-40, 28-11 on the offensive end, and came up with 18 steals to the Sharks’ seven.
Rutgers women’s basketball will be back in action on Wednesday, November 4th, when they take on La Salle at 7 PM. The game will be streamed on Big Ten Plus.
To support me and my work, please follow @arnavsarkar1000 on X!
