Rutgers women's basketball set to travel to US Virgin Islands for Paradise Jam
After rallying from an 18 point deficit to secure a victory in overtime on Friday night, the Rutgers women’s basketball team will travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands for the Paradise Jam where they will face DePaul, Vanderbilt and Arizona.
The Scarlet Knights (4-1, 0-0) bounced back from their first loss of the season with a hard-earned victory over Harvard, winning for the fourth time in 10 days.
Rutgers is led in scoring by senior guard Lasha Petree, who has so far averaged 8.6 points per game.
The transfer from Bradley has also shown her ability to hit shots in the clutch, hitting a three with less than 10 seconds left to tie the game against the Crimson (1-3, 0-0) and send it into overtime.
“I came off a ball screen, and thought I may need to shoot it,” Petree said when asked about the play. “I was confident in my shot, (head coach Timothy Eatman) believed in me, and so did my teammates. When it went in, I went blank, and kind of didn't know what was going on, but I know there was time on the clock and we needed a stop."
Graduate student forward Osh Brown has been the leading rebounder for the Knights this season, 10.6 per game, more than double the total of any other player in the program.
“My bread and butter is down at the paint,” Brown said when asked about her work on the glass. “Rebounding ... even though I’m out of position, and I’m not at the basket like I usually am, I'm still going to rebound. That’s just something that I enjoy doing and I’m good at.”
The Blue Demons (3-1, 0-0) are coming off of a close victory over their in-state rival Northwestern. Lexi Held ended up being the catalyst to the win, scoring 13 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter, registering eight assists and being active on defense with four steals.
In their second game in as many days, Rutgers will face the Commodores (3-2, 0-0), who have bounced back from an early two-game losing streak with wins over Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State. Jordyn Cambridge recorded the first double-double for the program this season in her last game, scoring 14 points and adding 10 rebounds.
The Knights will conclude the weekend on Saturday against the No. 11 Wildcats (4-0, 0-0). Arizona has had three dominant victories early in the season, with its only close matchup being a 61-59 win over then-No. 6 Louisville. As a team, the Wildcats approximately double their opponents' scoring average and have defended well, holding their opponents to just 28 percent shooting.
Rutgers will face DePaul and Vanderbilt at 1 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, respectively, before finishing up the Paradise Jam at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday against Arizona. All three games will be broadcasted on ESPN+ and WRSU 88.7 FM.
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