Rutgers women's basketball set to face Pittsburgh in Big Ten/ACC Challenge
After losing its last three games in the Paradise Jam, the Rutgers women’s basketball team returns to the tri-state area to face Pittsburgh tonight. The Scarlet Knights (4-4, 0-0) fell to Arizona in their last matchup, being held to eight first-half points and getting outrebounded for the first time this season.
“Great tournament for us — we found out a lot about our team,” said acting head coach Timothy Eatman. “Now we know what we (have) to do. We (have) to go back home and work on those things.”
Through the first eight games of the season, Rutgers has seen graduate student forward Osh Brown step into a leadership role, leading the team in both scoring and rebounding. Her 10.5 rebounds per game nearly triple any other player’s total in the program.
“I'm so happy for her because she's reaping the benefits of how hard she works at practice,” Eatman said after Brown’s 20-20 double-double against Depaul, the first for a Knight since 2014. “Anytime a player works that hard, that consistently, you're going to have a great chance to find success."
In addition to Brown, the team saw other players make impacts over the weekend, with graduate student guard Victoria Morris scoring a season-high 19 points and sophomore forward Chyna Cornwell setting a career-high with 6 points.
The Panthers (5-2, 0-0), also traveled to the Paradise Jam over Thanksgiving weekend, losing to Texas A&M before defeating Northwestern and falling to South Dakota in overtime to end their slate of games.
In their final matchup, Dayshanette Harris shined, scoring a team-high 18 points with three rebounds and two steals. Harris currently averages 11 points per game, good for second on the team. Jayla Everett, the program’s leading scorer, is currently averaging more than 18 points per game, but she did not participate in any of the Paradise Jam games, and her current status is unknown.
This game is part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, where Rutgers holds a 2-4 overall record. Its last victory came in 2019, when the Knights defeated Virginia. Pittsburgh’s last outing in the cross-conference games was a 5-point loss to Penn State.
These two teams used to play in the Big East and haven’t matched up since 2012. Rutgers has won 26 of the 29 games played between the two schools, currently riding a three-game winning streak in the series.
The game will take place at 6 p.m. and will be broadcasted on the ACC Network and 88.7 WRSU-FM.
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