Rutgers Women Can’t Hold Off Iowa on Senior Night
IOWA 87 – RUTGERS 78
After several valiant attempts to come from behind against 12th ranked Iowa, the Scarlet Knights couldn’t pull off the upset, falling 87-78 on Senior Night at Jersey Mike’s Arena.
The 51 second half points scored by the Scarlet Knights were the most points Rutgers has scored in the second half this season.
Four players were in double figures, with Shug Dickson leading the way with 19 points for Rutgers. Osh Brown contributed 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Jailyn Mason and Lasha Petree each produced 13 points in defeat for Rutgers.
🍪 and ⚡Shug jolts some energy into Jersey Mike's Arena! pic.twitter.com/l3wwN22RER
— Rutgers W.Basketball (@RutgersWBB) February 25, 2022
Rutgers trailed by 12 points at the break, and were down by as much as 14 points, 41-27 with 9:37 to go in the third quarter before they started to chip away.
A 9-2 run by Rutgers to open the fourth quarter cut the deficit down to three points, with a three-pointer by Mason and a layup by Dickson leading the way to make it a 66-63 ball game.
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark responded by putting her Hawkeye teammates on her back, scoring the next seven points by herself to push Iowa to a 73-65 lead with 4:43 to go in the game.
After a three by Mason cut the Iowa lead back down to five, Clark responded with a jump shot and a three-pointer in a matter of 50 seconds to give Iowa a 78-71 lead with 3:06 to play.
Fight til the end. pic.twitter.com/KMvmoSjtbN
— Rutgers W.Basketball (@RutgersWBB) February 25, 2022
Rutgers was able to hang around, and even got to within three points when Dickson nailed a jumper of her own to make it an 81-78 ballgame with 1:02 to go. However McKenna Warnock responded with a critical jump shot to re-extend the lead back out to five-points. Clark later iced it on the free throw like for the Hawkeyes.
Rutgers stands at 9-19 and 2-14 in conference. The regular season finale is Sunday at Illinois. The Big Ten tournament begins March 2.