2/3/2024 basketball Edit

Rutgers women's hoops survives Nebraska on the road and snaps 12-game skid

Alec Crouthamel • TheKnightReport

Staff Writer

Beat writer for women's basketball here at TKR, as well as covering all other things Scarlet Knights. Also working as a broadcaster with WRSU student radio and hoping to do more in the future!

Pinnacle Bank Arena, especially this season, has become a house of horrors on both the men's and women's side of basketball for opposing teams coming to Lincoln, Nebraska.

Today? Rutgers, led by a breakout performance from Kassondra Brown, broke that trend and took down the Cornhuskers (14-8, 6-5).

The Scarlet Knights (7-17, 1-10) finally snapped their 12-game losing streak and notched their first victory in Big Ten play in dramatic fashion, surviving a late Nebraska run to down the Cornhuskers 71-70.

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Brown was locked in throughout, putting up 21 points, five rebounds, and four assists in her finest performance at Rutgers. Arguably the best part of her game was her efficiency, as she made all five of her field goal attempts in the first half and finished the game 7-for-9 from the floor, including 2-for-3 from behind the three-point line.

Even past Brown's efforts, it was a wildly efficient offensive performance for the Scarlet Knights against a Nebraska team looking to stack up some wins to build their NCAA Tournament resume. Rutgers shot a whopping 60% from the floor, compared to the Cornhuskers 34%, and every single Scarlet Knight that took the floor - all eight active players except Kennedy Brandt saw game action - scored at least 5 points.

Much of the offensive efficiency was spurred thanks to tremendous ball movement throughout. For the second consecutive game, Rutgers dished close to 20 assists. Antonia Bates had another fantastic playmaking game with seven assists of her own for the second straight game, as well as hitting all three of her field goal attempts for 7 points.

The first half was largely back-and-forth, with both teams trading buckets throughout. While the Scarlet Knights were red-hot shooting, they were able to help Nebraska stay in the game thanks to 15 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. The third quarter was much better with only one giveaway, but six more in the fourth quarter added up to 23 for the game.

Destiny Adams, with Brown in foul trouble during the second half, began to take over once again in the second half to help pad the lead with 7 points in the period. The Scarlet Knights dominated the third quarter, doubling up Nebraska to open up a 60-49 lead, which would be their largest of the day.

The Cornhuskers' whose offense had been quiet all game long, really began to wake up in the final minutes. They opened the quarter on a 10-4 run and spent the entirety of the fourth trying to take the lead back, but never were able to get over the hump. Rutgers made timely plays to keep the lead and, despite their best efforts at times, Nebraska missed countless opportunity after countless opportunity to take the lead.

With under a second to play, Nebraska had the chance to inbound from their side of the floor to try to win the game. The lob to Alexis Markowski was on point, but her layup rolled around the rim and fell harmlessly to the ground to give Rutgers their first win in nearly two months, since defeating La Salle 98-67 on December 6th.

Next up, they return home to host a struggling Maryland squad and notch their second consecutive victory in Big Ten play. Tip-off will be at 8:30 pm from Jersey Mike's Arena.