Listen Live!By Diane Quail
PISCATAWAY, NJ – The Rutgers women’s basketball team continued their hot streak winning their 5th straight game against UCF in the annual “Play4Kay” game. Both The Scarlet Knights and The Golden Knights wore pink supporting former North Carolina State coach Kay Yow who lost her battle with Breast Cancer in 2009.
Breast Cancer awareness is something that hit home for many Scarlet Knights. Khaleah Cooper and Syessence Davis spoke after the game about their personal connections to Breast Cancer. “When you step onto the court with a pink jersey you came to play,” said Cooper who played one of her best games of the season.
The Scarlet Knights got off to a slow start offensively scoring most of their points off of turnovers and rebounds, but began to score towards the end of the first half. They led 39-26 going into the half.
The Lady Knights exploded out of the locker room making four of their first five shots. Syessence Davis came out with a three pointer followed by a jump shot by Tyler Scaife. Scaife, Davis and Kahleah Copper dominated the court instantly giving Rutgers a 48-28 lead with just over three minutes played. This momentum continued growing throughout the second half as the Scarlet Knights defeated UCF 90-50.
The Rutgers defense forced The UCF Knights into 22 turnovers which the Scarlet Knight offence transitioned into 38 points.
Freshman Tyler Scaife and sophomore Kahleah Copper both racked up 22 points with Scaife also having five rebounds and five assists. Syessence Davis had a career-high 12 points and give assists while Betnijah Laney added 10 points, five rebounds and seven assists.
The young Scarlet Knights team played a complete game offensively and defensively not giving UCF any chances. Rutgers scored a season high of 90 points and a season best victory margin of 40 points. Their offence also shot 60 percent from the field
“I am so happy to have moved forward” said Stringer when asked about last seasons struggles. “This is a new group. New attitude offensively and defensively. I don’t want to hear anything about before. I’d just like to kiss it goodbye.”
The Scarlet Knights are now 20-5 this season and 11-3 in conference play. This was a huge win for The Scarlet Knights as they begin preparing for next Sunday’s trip to Louisville.
