Rutgers women's basketball earns 1st Big Ten home win against Minnesota
The Rutgers women's basketball team defeated Minnesota 81-73 on Tuesday night at Jersey Mike's Arena on Livingston campus. The Scarlet Knights (8-19, 2-12) earned their first Big Ten home win of the season after outplaying the Golden Gophers (14-10, 4-9) the whole evening.
At the 7:13 mark of the first quarter, a three-pointer from Mallory Heyer gave Minnesota a 5-3 lead. Approximately 2 minutes later, Grace Grocholski hit a three-pointer which was immediately answered by a three-point shot from freshman guard Jillian Huerter.
From that point on, though, the Golden Gophers would go on a 10-2 run to end the first quarter.
It was a sloppy first quarter for both teams, as Minnesota committed 10 turnovers, and Rutgers gave the ball away eight times.
The Knights played much better in the second quarter, and they started on a high note after sophomore guard and forward Antonia Bates made a layup.
At the 4:10 mark of the second quarter, two free throws from sophomore guard Mya Petticord cut the score to 22-20 in favor of the Golden Gophers. Another three from Grocholski would give Minnesota a 5-point lead. Senior guard Erica Lafayette would then answer with her own three for Rutgers.
With 1:20 remaining up until the end of the second quarter, four free throws from junior guard and forward Destiny Adams and a Grocholski jumper evened the score at 27 heading into halftime.
The Knights would start the third quarter hot, going on a 7-2 run that forced a Golden Gophers timeout.
At the 6:31 mark of the third quarter, Lafayette sank another shot from distance to give Rutgers a 37-32 lead.
Petticord joined in on the shooting party shortly with her own three, which was followed by a wide-open successful long ball from Lafayette once again. Big shots from the Knights would give them a 43-33 lead that would force another Minnesota timeout.
The Golden Gophers were able to cut the deficit to 4 points and trailed Rutgers 44-40 with 2:45 to go in the third quarter.
When the third-quarter buzzer sounded, the Knights led 52-48.
At the 7:18 mark of the fourth quarter, a Petticord triple gave Rutgers a 59-52 lead but was quickly answered after Grocholski knocked down another long shot.
Like clockwork, Petticord and Grocholski would go at it again beyond the arc, but Petticord was able to have the last laugh with a corner three and give the Knights a 65-60 lead with 5:27 to go in the contest.
After Amaya Battle got her jumper to go for Minnesota, Adams would score 6 straight points to give Rutgers a 71-62 lead with 3:51 left.
The Knights were able to hold the lead in the final minutes to break their two-game skid in an 8-point win over Minnesota.
Petticord led Rutgers in the scoring column with 25 points on the night, while Adams notched a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
Overall, the Knights hit 9 of their 20 three-point attempts for a 45 percent success rate from beyond the arc.
Head coach Coquese Washington expressed her excitement after the victory.
"We worked really hard coming into this game, and the best thing for us, as a coaching staff, is to watch us execute the things that we practiced for the last couple days," Washington said. "So, some good execution down the stretch and happy for these guys that they can pull that win out in front of our fans."
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