The Rutgers women’s basketball team was dominated in its Big Ten opener against Iowa, as the Hawkeyes handled the Scarlet Knights 79-36. Despite the strong performances by Rutgers in their out-of-conference schedule, the Knights looked completely overmatched against Iowa as they allowed the Hawkeyes to hit 49 percent of their field goal attempts. This was the worst loss, score-wise, since USC beat the Knights 92-42 last season.
Iowa would draw first blood off a second-chance layup by Ava Heiden. Two
and a half minutes later, Rutgers would score their first points of the ball game off a layup made by Zachara Perkins, to cut Iowa’s lead to 4. The Hawkeyes would continue to pour it on the Knights, going on a 10-0 run in the last three and a half minutes of the first quarter to take a commanding 22-6 lead into the first break.
Rutgers would not score again until just over six minutes left in the second quarter, when Faith Blackstone recorded a steal on Iowa’s side of the court and hit a layup. By that time, Iowa had extended its lead significantly, holding a 27-8 lead over the Knights. The Hawkeyes would continue to pour it on from there, as they would go into the half with a 42-14 lead. Rutgers would not get into double digits on the scoreboard until there were just over three and a half minutes left in the quarter.
Things would not get better for Rutgers in the second half. By that point, Iowa was a runaway train, and all the Knights could do was get run over. The Hawkeyes would outscore Rutgers 24-4 in the third quarter. The Knights would actually outscore Iowa 18-14 in the fourth quarter, but that would not do much to help their cause, as the deficit was way too big.
The game was as lopsided as the score looks, as the Knights were beaten in every statistical category besides free-throw percentage. One particular mismatch came inside the paint as Rutgers was outscored 44-18 from underneath the basket.
Iowa also had three players score 14 points or more, with center Ava Heiden recording the most with 17.
For their next game, Rutgers will take the short trip to Princeton to take on the Tigers. That game is scheduled for Wednesday, December 10th, at 7:30.
