ILLINOIS 75 – RUTGERS 53
Rutgers women’s basketball closed out the 2022-23 season Sunday afternoon with a 75-53 loss to 25th ranked Illinois. Rutgers will face Northwestern in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday.
Kaylene Smikle led the team in scoring with 18 points; Chyna Cornwell contributed 11 points and Kassondra Brown added 10.
Illinois proved to be too much to on the glass, shooting 56 percent for the game and 36 percent from downtown. Rutgers shot only 36 percent from the floor and .067 from beyond three.
While the loss closed out the season with a record of 11-19 and 5-13 in conference play, Rutgers made plenty of strides in Coquese Washington’s first season on the job as Head Coach. The team on 11 games, including five in conference, with its biggest highlights coming in a 65-59 win over Minnesota — the program’s 1000th victory and Washington’s 100th win in the Big Ten, and an gutsy 86-82 win over Penn State.
