After the snowstorm rescheduled this contest, Rutgers women’s basketball was back in action against the #25 Washington Huskies this afternoon for the annual Play4Kay game. Unfortunately for the Scarlet Knights, Washington dominated both inside and outside, while Rutgers struggled to generate consistent offense. They quickly fell behind 7-2 with Elle Ladine knocking down a three on the first possession of the game and following that up with a layup.
Despite a couple of baskets from Imani Lester and
Lauryn Swann, Washington pushed the lead to 12-4 with a three from Avery Howell and a pair of free throws from Hannah Stines. A midrange jumper from Kaylah Ivey cut the lead to 12-6 briefly, but UW responded with a pair of baskets to push the Huskies lead to 16-6.
Faith Blackstone made a pair of free throws, but it was answered by a layup from Chloe Briggs, keeping the Washington lead at 10. The Huskies kept the defensive intensity with a stop on Lester, but the Knights responded with their own stop, followed by a pair of Lester midrange baskets to bring Rutgers back within eight points to end the first quarter down 20-12.
The second quarter began with Huskies forward Brynn McGaughy using her size to get a tip-in layup and complete the three-point play at the line. A steal from Stines resulted in a layup to give Washington a 25-12 lead early in the quarter as the Huskies worked the baseline to get underneath the basket. A poor pass from Swann gave Washington the ball back before Sayvia Sellers connected from the right wing to push the lead to 16.
Antonia Bates was fouled and split her pair of free throws before Ladine was called for a travel, but Lester was unable to finish at the rim against McGaughy. McGaughy found an open Sellers in the left corner for three, which pushed the Rutgers lead to 31-13, with a TV timeout being called at the 6:35 mark. Blackstone made a layup to snap the scoring drought, with Ivey knocking down a midrange jumper to bring the Knights within 14.
However, McGaughy made a turnaround jumpshot over PreciousGem Wheeler, and Stines followed that up with a crafty layup to push the Washington lead back to 18. Yulia Grabovskaia converted a layup to put the Huskies ahead 37-17, but Ivey answered with a three-pointer to bring Rutgers to the 20-point mark. The Huskies fired right back with Howell and Sellers knocking down back-to-back threes to go up 43-20 at halftime after dominating the second quarter 23-8.
Coming out of halftime, Antonia Bates got the scoring started for Rutgers on a second-chance layup, and an Ivey three and layup from Deja Young saw Rutgers bring the Huskies’ lead down to 18. However, a pair of layups from UW and some quick passing saw Stines knock down a three from the left corner to give UW a 50-27 lead.
Howell connected from the left wing, and Grabovskaia made a layup to balloon the lead up to 28 points before a TV timeout was called at 4:22 in the third quarter. Rutgers had a 7-0 run with Lester, Ivey, and Swann all scoring, and a three-pointer from Swann prompted the Huskies to call a timeout as their lead was cut to 22.
After the timeout, McGauphy scored on a pair of layups, but Ivey was fouled on a missed three-point attempt, making two of three attempts at the line to bring the Scarlet Knights within 62-39 entering the fourth quarter. Lester scored underneath the rim after getting her own rebound twice to cut the lead to 21, but McGaughy answered quickly with her own layup.
Swann then connected on a three-pointer from 26 feet to cut the lead back to 20 points before Sienna Harvey was fouled by Janae Walker, briefly checking out due to a cut on her face, while Chloe Briggs made her pair of free throws. Howell connected on a wide-open three-pointer as Brandt could not close out in time to push the lead back to 25 under the five-minute mark of the final frame.
McGaughy and Grabovskaia both made layups to offset a Lester layup and bring the lead back to 27 as the final minutes of the game ran down, and a few poor offensive possessions led to a traveling turnover by Bates. Lester knocked down a jumper from the foul line, while the Huskies subbed in some of their bench players for the final 90 seconds. Briggs punctuated the victory with a long three-pointer, while Brandt missed a contested three at the end of the game despite taking four shots and two from beyond the arc.
Washington was led by McGauphy, who dominated inside to the tune of 17 points and seven rebounds. Howell was a key contributor as well with 16 points and seven boards, going 6-13 from the field and connecting on four of ten three-point attempts. Grabovskaia had nine points and led the Huskies with 17 rebounds, while Sellers added 11 points and led UW with six assists.
It was a rough afternoon offensively for Rutgers, mustering just 48 points and being without their top scorer in Nene Ndiaye, even though she was not listed on the availability report. Lester and Ivey led the Knights with 14 points apiece, while Swann added 11 points.
Rutgers matched the cold weather in their shooting percentages, going 32% on 19-59 shooting from the field and a frigid 4-21 from beyond the arc, good for just 21%. Bates led Rutgers with seven rebounds while Ivey’s four assists were the most by a Scarlet Knight (she also added four rebounds).
The Scarlet Knights were dominated on the perimeter, but also at the rim, being out rebounded 51-30 and outscored in the paint 36-14. They were also outscored 20-7 in second chance points and made just six of 13 free throws, showing the extent of their offensive struggles.
The Scarlet Knights will have another quick turnaround as they host Oregon on Wednesday at Jersey Mike’s Arena. Tip-off will be at 7 PM with the game available to be streamed on BTN+.
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