Rutgers women's basketball falls to Penn State 52-48
The Rutgers women’s basketball team dropped its sixth consecutive game of the season at Bryce Jordan Center, falling to Penn State, 52-48. The Scarlet Knights (4-7, 0-2) were in a back-and-forth contest all night with the Nittany Lions (5-5, 0-0), down by no more than 7 all night and leading by no more than 4 points.
Trailing 24-27 early in the third quarter, Rutgers went on a quick 7-0 run that included a three from graduate student guard Shug Dickson and two consecutive layups by junior forward Tyia Singleton to give the Knights their first lead since the first quarter. Penn State answered right back with a 7-0 run of its own, retaking the lead and not looking back, as they never lost the lead for the rest of the night.
Though a foul by sophomore guard Erica Lafayette sent Makenna Marisa to the free-throw line, where she hit 1 of 2 free throws, making it a two-possession game with 16 seconds left in the game and effectively icing it.
“I like where we’re going,” said head coach Timothy Eatman. “We played two good games where we actually played well and played with a lot of purpose. Tonight we (were) 4-for-10 from the free throw line so if we get over that hump, we probably (will) win the basketball game.”
Statistical leaders for Rutgers on the night included Singleton with 12 points, Dickson with five assists, graduate student forward Osh Brown with 10 rebounds and sophomore center Sakima Walker with one block and three assists.
For the Nittany Lions, Marisa led the team with 16 points and three assists and Anna Camden with eight rebounds, one block and three steals. As a team, the Knights outshot Penn State from the field, 44 percent to 43 percent and outrebounded the Nittany Lions 35-23, but only had 9 points off of turnovers compared to Penn State’s 18.
Rutgers will next play against Delaware State, at Jersey Mike’s Arena, on Sunday at 2 p.m.
“I like our effort,” said Eatman. “I like the way we’re moving the basketball. We’re sharing, we had four people in double figures again. If we can continue that and tighten it up on the defensive end … we held a team that’s averaging 75 points a game probably to 52-20 points under their average … We just got to finish now.”
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