Rutgers Women's Basketball Earns First Big Ten Win by Beating Penn State 76-72

Rutgers takes down Penn State despite stellar performance from Kiyomi McMiller

Rutgers Women's Basketball Earns first Big ten win over Penn State | Rutgers Athletics

Rutgers Women's basketball earned its first Big Ten win of the season by taking down Penn State 76-72. This game had a few storylines going into it, the first one being that this was a must win game for both teams to keep their hopes of making the Big ten tournement reasonable. The second storyline was that this was former Scarlet Knights superstar Kiyomi McMiller's first game against Rutgers since she became a Nittany Lion last offseason. McMiller left the Knight early last season, supposedly due to off-court issues with the coaching staff.

The game would start off as a back-and-forth affair for both teams, with each team putting up mini runs that consisted of about five points each to keep pace with one another. Rutgers would hold a 22-17 lead after one. In the second quarter, Rutgers would lead by as much as 10 points before their lead slipped away, as they would head into the locker room up 35-33.

Rutgers and Penn State would go back and forth with the lead in the third quarter, with the Nittany Lions holding a three-point lead at the end of the quarter. The Knights' offense would come alive again in the fourth quarter, outscoring Penn State 24-17 and sealing the four-point victory for Rutgers.

Rutgers had active contributions from all around their starting lineup, as Nene Ndiaye led the way with 20 points, Imani Lester grabbed 8 rebounds, and Kaylah Ivey had 6 assists. Lester helped out around the basket as well, as she netted 19 points. Penn State was the opposite, leaning on McMiller, who stole the show despite the loss. McMiller netted 27 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and recorded five assists in the losing effort. The Nittany Lions also got heavy contributions from Gracie Merkle, who scored 21 points in this game.

The biggest factor that helped Rutgers win this game is the fact that they were able to get contributions from up and down their lineup. Ndiaye, Lester, Ivey, Faith Blackstone, and Lauryn Swann all finished the game with 10 points or more. Ivey, Lester, and Ndiaye finished the game with 5 rebounds or more. Penn State, on the other hand, only had two players score double-digit points, and they only had two players grab more than 5 rebounds.

With the win, Rutgers moves slightly closer to qualifying for the Big Ten tournament, as they move up to No.16 in the conference. The Knights will need to take the winnable game whenever they can get one to have a chance at qualifying.

Up next, Rutgers women's basketball will host No.8 Michigan on Thursday at 6 PM. The game will be broadcast nationally on the Big Ten Network.