RU WBB: Rutgers To Host Georgetown in WNIT Opener

While the Rutgers women’s basketball team didn’t earn a birth into the prestigious NCAA women’s basketball tournament, with an 18-14 overall record, they did make it into the WNIT.

The Scarlet Knights will host an old nemesis from their time in the Big East Conference, the Georgetown Hoyas, in the first round of the tournament on Thursday, March 17 at 7 p.m. at the Rutgers Athletic Center (RAC).

Rutgers is one of six Big Ten teams in the 64-team field along with Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, and Northwestern. Rutgers lost to Iowa by four in early January, took the season series against Nebraska 2-1 including upsetting the Cornhuskers in the Big Ten Tournament, beat Northwestern by two in February off a Tyler Scaife layup that beat the buzzer, and blew out Michigan 72-50 in the regular season finale at the RAC.

Rutgers is also one of four teams in the tournament that previously won the Postseason WNIT with Oregon (2002), Creighton (2004), and Drexel (2013). The Scarlet Knights took the championship two years ago in 2014 when Scaife went coast-to-coast for a last second layup for a 56-54 thriller over UTEP.

Kahleah Copper shoots the ball against Nebraska at the RAC earlier this season / DoubleGSports

Scaife, along with Kahleah Copper, both Second Team All-Big Ten honorees, lead Rutgers with 17.6 points per game and 17.5 points per game and 8.0 rebounds per game respectively. Rachel Hollivay provides a defensive presence in the paint with her 329 career blocks, good for the school’s all-time lead. She is fourth nationally on the current season with 109 swats.

Georgetown will make the familiar trip to the RAC with a 16-13 record and 9-9 mark in the Big East.

The winner of Thursday’s game will tipoff against either VCU or Virginia in the second round.

Check out the full WNIT bracket here.

First round WNIT tips off Wednesday, March 16 through Friday, March 18. Second round games will run March 19-22, Round three takes place March 23-25, quarterfinals are March 26-28, and semifinals will be played March 30-31. The championship game will be played Saturday, April 2 and will be televised live and in HD on CBS Sports Network at 3 p.m. ET. All games are hosted by participating schools.

According to Scarletknights.com:

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