Rutgers Ladies Stamp Ticket to Big Ten Tourney

Now that's how to send out the seniors on Senior Day!

Rutgers women's basketball stamped its ticket to the Big Ten Tournament following a thrilling 75-70 victory over Penn State on Sunday afternoon at Jersey Mike's Arena on Senior Day. The victory coupled with Purdue's loss to Indiana, swung the pendulum for Rutgers to get in as the final seed in the Big Ten Tournament.

Rutgers had beaten Purdue head-to-head back on February 9 and owned a tie-breaker.

The Scarlet Knights will face Nebraska in the 10 vs. 15 Game on Wednesday.

"That was one of the tings we talked about playing with a high level of fight. To lose Chyna Cornwell early in the game was a blow. It hurt our rotation, and we had to play players through fatigue. Throughout it all, we talked about playing together and making adjustments. Everyone stepped up," Head Coach Coquise Washington said afterwards.

"This group, the love they have for each other it's amazing. You should see the locker room! To see them have the kind of joy they had today to play for their seniors was great today," Washington added.

Senior guard Destiny Adams led the way with 19 points and 14 boards for her 14th double-double of the season. Fellow senior JoJo Lacey also hit double-figures with 12 points in the victory.

Mya Petticord (13 points), Lisa Thompson (13 points) and Zachara Perkins (10 points) all finished in double-figures, marking the first time five Rutgers players have finished in double-digits in scoring since January 5, 2024.

In fact it was Petticord who nailed a huge jumper and three-pointer in the wanning seconds of the third quarter that increased Rutgers lead to five, 56-50, proving to be a huge momentum shift in a close contest.

Petticord would hit another three-pointer with 7:09 to go in the game to give Rutgers its biggest lead of nine points.

It was all Rutgers the rest of the way. Penn State was able to close the gap to three points when Tamara Johnson connected on a layup with 1:47 to play, but Zachara Perkins hit on an two-point answer some 25 seconds later to push the lead back up to five. Destiny Adams soon followed knocking down free throws to extend the lead to seven points.

Seniors Destiny Adams, Chyna Cornwell, JoJo Lacey, and Awe Sidibe were honored before the contest in a stirring senior day ceremony.

The Rutgers-Nebraska game will tip off 25 minutes after the conclusion of Minnesota-Washington which tips off at 3:30. So figure a start time of around 6/6:30 p.m. We will have the game streaming exclusively on Fox Sports radio New Jersey dot com.