Rutgers women's basketball falls to No. 8 Michigan
Despite jumping out to an early lead in the first quarter, the Rutgers women’s basketball team fell to Michigan 76-47. The Scarlet Knights (7-10, 0-5) are yet to register a win in 2022, dropping three Big Ten contests in the first nine days of the year.
Rutgers took a 4-0 lead against the No. 8 Wolverines (13-2, 4-1), but could not hold on for long as a three-pointer and four free throws saw Michigan take the advantage in the first. Amy Dilk and Leigha Brown were the leading scorers after ten minutes, dropping 5 points each as the Wolverines took an 11 point advantage.
The second quarter saw both teams come alive on offense, combining for 46 points. Senior guard Lasha Petree contributed 8 points, hitting all three of her shots with two of them coming from behind the arc.
Graduate student guard Shug Dickson reached a career milestone, scoring her 1,000th career point and becoming the fifth active Knight with at least 1,000 points. No other Division I team has four 1,000 point scorers on their roster.
Brown continued to be the leading scorer for Michigan in the second, dropping 11 points without missing a shot. Maddie Nolan also reached double digits in the first 20 minutes, scoring 12 points on four threes. The Wolverines took a 44-25 lead into the break, shooting over 60 percent from the field and hitting 8 of their 10 three-point attempts.
Naz Hillmon made an immediate impact coming out of the halftime break, scoring 4 points in the first five minutes of the second half. Rutgers was able to get to the free-throw line, hitting half of their attempts in the third quarter. Michigan expanded its lead, outscoring the Knights by 12 to take a 31 point lead into the fourth quarter.
Hillmon continued to show why she is the Wolverines’ leading scorer this year, adding 6 more points in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. Dickson tried to respond with 5 points of her own, but the game was far out of reach as Michigan remains undefeated in Ann Arbor this season.
Rutgers will have a week to rest before another Big Ten matchup with Wisconsin next Sunday. The game will take place at Jersey Mike’s Arena on Livingston campus at 2 p.m., and will be broadcasted on 88.7 WRSU FM.
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