Senior Day struggles: Rutgers women's basketball falls to Northwestern in last regular season game of season
The Rutgers women's basketball team fell to Northwestern 72-61 in its final game of the regular season on Sunday at Jersey Mike's Arena on Livingston campus. The Scarlet Knights (8-23, 2-16) once again could not climb out of a first-quarter hole in their loss to the Wildcats (9-20, 4-14).
Another early deficit
Despite scoring the first basket of the afternoon, Rutgers would allow Northwestern to score 11 unanswered points to take an 11-2 lead at the 7:29 mark of the first quarter.
That lead for the Wildcats would extend to 16-3, as the Knights could only muster 1 more point up until approximately the 6-minute mark.
From that point on, Rutgers would go on a 10-6 run to end the first period but still trailed Northwestern 22-13.
In the second quarter, the Knights never let the Wildcats stray far away from their lead but could not get the push needed to put the score in their favor.
Sophomore guard and forward Antonia Bates and freshman guard Jillian Huerter connected on three-pointers near the end of the first half, but Rutgers still were behind 36-28 heading into the locker rooms.
Caroline Lau scored 13 points in the first half for Northwestern and was a perfect 5 for 5 from the field with three successful three-pointers.
Northwestern holds strong in the second half
A strong third quarter would help propel the Wildcats to a victory.
Northwestern went on a 12-7 run from the start of the third quarter to the 4:39 mark. As the Knights would try to claw their way back, the Wildcats would have an answer.
A successful three-point shot from Caileigh Walsh with 11 seconds left in the third quarter gave Northwestern a 59-44 lead heading into the fourth. The Wildcats led Rutgers 23-16 in third quarter points and shot for a 66.7 percentage throughout the 10 minutes, led by a 10-point quarter from Melannie Daley.
Head coach Coquese Washington said that her team had more turnovers than she would have liked in the third quarter. That, coupled with an advantage in size for Northwestern, helped in its victory.
"I thought Northwestern did a good job taking advantage of their size, and they went inside," Washington said. "And we didn't respond well to our help-side defense and really having enough ball pressure to make some of those passes a bit more challenging."
The Knights would have a 17-13 lead in fourth quarter points, but it wasn't enough to edge out the Wildcats, as they fell in the 11-point defeat.
Rutgers' inconsistency could be seen throughout the whole game against Northwestern, as it never could catch fire on offense. It shot just 37 percent from the field and 25 percent from the arc. The Wildcats were much more efficient with a 52.7 and 53.3 clip from the field and three, respectively.
Senior day in Piscataway
The Knights honored three seniors on their annual Senior Day: graduate student center Kassondra Brown, senior center Chyna Cornwell and senior guard Erica Lafayette.
Lafayette led the trio with 11 points. Cornwell scored 9 points with 11 rebounds, while Brown scored 7 points and corralled four rebounds in Sunday's loss.
Washington believes that all of the seniors' legacies will live on.
"I think that their lasting impact will be their resilience and the fight that they've shown," Washington said.
What's next
Rutgers' loss to Northwestern officially puts it in last place in the Big Ten standings. The Knights will now take on the No. 11 seed in the conference in the 2024 Big Ten Tournament and will likely take on Minnesota.
"We'll try to get as rested as we can," Washington said. "It looks like we're probably gonna play Minnesota and be ready to compete."
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