Rutgers falls to Penn State, sinking March outlook as skid grows

Rutgers Women’s Basketball needed multiple different outcomes to put up a chance to keep its season alive and play into March.

None of those outcomes involved losing both games this week and extending its losing streak to nine games.

That’s how it went down at Jersey Mike’s Arena on Saturday, though, as the Scarlet Knights (9-18, 1-15) almost certainly sealed their fate of missing out on the postseason with an 87-78 loss to Penn State on Senior Day.

The Nittany Lions (10-17, 3-13) won their second straight game, led by former Rutgers guard Kiyomi McMiller in her first return game to Piscataway. She recorded her fifth consecutive game with 30 or more points, tying a career-high with 37 on 14-for-21 shooting from the floor, while dishing out eight assists and picking up five steals.

Penn State’s dynamic duo of McMiller and star forward Gracie Merkle (26 points, 10-for-16 shooting) were the only two Lady Lions in double-figures, though it was quite enough to get the job done.

Rutgers had five scorers in double-figures — though that quintet made up all but six of the team’s points — led by Imani Lester‘s 17 points, with 15 of them coming in her first nine minutes of action. The Scarlet Knights also got big scoring contributions from Nene Ndiaye (16 points), Zachara Perkins (15 points, ten rebounds), Faith Blackstone (13 points), and Kaylah Ivey (11 points, eight assists).

The offense finally woke up against a struggling Penn State defense, as Rutgers surpassed the 70-point mark for the fourth time this season, and the first since the last time the two teams faced off in State College a month ago. Much of it came on the back of a 20-5 advantage on the offensive glass, though it only led to seven second-chance points.

The program honored Lester, Ivey, Blackstone, Antonia Bates, and Deja Young for the Senior Day festivities before the game.

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The first half

It took the Lady Lions over four minutes to score a point — including six straight misses to start the game as Rutgers opened up an 8-0 lead — but got to work quickly and often from there.

The visitors immediately responded with a 7-0 run of their own, and closed the quarter on an 8-0 run in the final two minutes to take the lead for the first time. Tea Cleante was a surprise major contributor in the opening frame, with all eight of her points coming in the quarter, with two made three-pointers.

McMiller followed up her seven-point opening quarter with an even better encore to close the first half, scoring 11 of Penn State’s 17 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the floor. She and Merkle combined to go on a 10-2 run early in the second quarter to retake the lead after the Scarlet Knights had done so.

The two teams traded baskets the rest of the way, though the Lady Lions had built up enough of a cushion to comfortably take a two-score lead into halftime.

The second half

Rutgers never got back to within a possession in the second half, as McMiller continued to star on her former stomping grounds. The lead eventually moved up to double-digits midway through the third quarter, and the Scarlet Knights were unable to fully get themselves back within striking distance.

McMiller scored 19 in the second half on 7-for-11 shooting, while Merkle came alive with 18, combining for 37 of the team’s 49 second-half points.

As Rutgers got into desperation mode late in the game, it did manage to see shots fall, including a 4-for-7 clip from beyond the arc, after entering the quarter with a 4-for-18 mark from the perimeter. The Scarlet Knights got to within four points multiple times but could never crack the one-score mark, and the Lady Lions eventually knocked down their free throws late to seal the victory as the battle for postseason positioning of their own.

Postseason implications

With the loss — compounded by Tuesday’s loss to Illinois — Rutgers has put itself in a dangerous position to miss the postseason altogether, with the Big Ten Tournament only bringing along the top 15 teams in the standings.

The Scarlet Knights currently sit in last place by over a game, one behind Northwestern in the win column, but with a head-to-head loss in the tiebreakers. Rutgers would need to finish a game ahead of the Wildcats in the standings, requiring the Scarlet Knights to win each of their last two games against Indiana and Nebraska.

They also now sit two games behind Penn State in the win column, but without a head-to-head advantage as the two teams split the season series. The next tiebreaker is wins against each team above them in the conference standings. Even getting there would require the Lady Lions to lose to Indiana, though, which would also hurt Rutgers, as it is also battling against the Hoosiers (3-12 in conference play) in the standings.

Long story short, while the Scarlet Knights may not be totally mathematically eliminated, they’re currently as close as it gets.