Shorthanded Rutgers women's basketball falls to Michigan State on the road
In their penultimate game of the regular season, Rutgers women's basketball traveled up to East Lansing without several key performers and could not overcome the adversity, falling 93-57 to Michigan State. The Scarlet Knights (8-22, 2-15 Big Ten) were left with just seven players for the matchup, all of whom played at least 17 minutes.
The Spartans (20-7, 10-6 Big Ten) rode their dynamite offense - now tied for fifth in the country averaging 84.3 points per game - to yet another win as they look to head into postseason play with some upward momentum.
On the injury front, Rutgers was again without guards Kaylene Smikle and Awa Sidibe, as it has been for much of the Big Ten slate. However, two new absences that popped up before the game put the Scarlet Knights in an even more precarious position, as guards Mya Petticord and Antonia Bates were ruled out according to the Big Ten's availability report published two hours before every game.
Those added absences meant Rutgers was without one of their top defenders and playmakers in Bates, as well as their starting point guard and top shot creator in Petticord. It also left the Scarlet Knights with only three options at guard - all freshmen in Jillian Huerter, Lisa Thompson, and former walk-on Kennedy Brandt, who played in her second game since being put on scholarship during winter break and hit the first two field goals of her college career in the fourth quarter.
The trio of first-years performed admirably well but unfortunately, it was not enough to get Rutgers back in the game. Thompson - who has also been dealing with a medical issue of her own - was held scoreless in 17 minutes of play, shooting 0-for-5 from the floor. Huerter was thrust into a main offensive role and was aggressively hunting her shot, scoring 12 points and connecting on four three-pointers. Brandt, in addition to her two baskets on consecutive possessions, also recorded a steal in the third quarter.
For the second game in a row, the offense looked solid keeping up with a red-hot Spartan squad, but towards the end of the first quarter and the entire second quarter, the Scarlet Knights fell apart and went down by 24 heading into the locker room at halftime.
The Spartans were able to build a lead in large part thanks to their efficiency from the perimeter, led by Moira Joiner. In the first half alone, she scored 20 points on 7-for-8 shooting from the floor, as well as 6-for-7 from beyond the arc. Michigan State finished the game converting on 14 of their 33 attempts from three-point range, and a first-half blitz where they shot 11-for-20 from deep went a long way in sealing a blowout victory.
Huerter was one of three Scarlet Knights in double-figures, joining Destiny Adams and Erica Lafayette, who scored a career-high 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the floor while making four three-pointers. Lafayette, who got her third start of the season, made multiple threes for the third time in four games and is beginning to stand out as one of the Scarlet Knights' better spot-up shooters of late.
The Spartans also had three double-digit scorers, led by Joiner's 22. Julia Ayrault and Abbey Kimball both scored 17, while DeeDee Hagemann only scored 9 but dished out 7 assists. Much of their momentum was built capitalizing off of Rutgers' mistakes, as they scored 28 points off of 13 Scarlet Knight turnovers and scored 42 points in the paint to Rutgers' 18. Michigan State's 27 assists marked their third-most in a game this season, and their most in conference play.
Up next: Rutgers will be off for eight days before closing out the regular season by hosting Northwestern on Senior Day next Sunday. If the Wildcats (8-19, 3-13 Big Ten) lose to Indiana on Tuesday, the Scarlet Knights can avoid finishing the regular season in last place in the Big Ten with a win. The two would finish with the same conference record while splitting the season series, but it appears Rutgers' win over Nebraska would give them the tiebreaker advantage.
Either way, the Scarlet Knights have locked in a spot playing on the first day of next week's Big Ten Tournament, starting next Wednesday.
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