Rutgers Women’s Basketball Blown Out By Nebraska, 93-52

Rutgers women’s basketball concluded its frustrating regular season in Lincoln to take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday afternoon. Zachara Perkins opened up the scoring for the Scarlet Knights with a nice-looking step-through layup, and the Huskers eventually answered back with a midrange jumper by Petra Bozan.

The Knights proceeded to commit a string of six turnovers in the next five minutes while also enduring a lengthy scoring drought, while Britt Prince got going early for Nebraska with two free throws and a layup off a steal from Kaylah Ivey. Nebraska completed the sequence with a three-pointer by Amiah Hargrove as the Huskers went up 9-2 at the under-six media timeout. Nene Ndiaye finally broke the drought with a crafty layup and converted on the free throw to cut the NU lead to 9-5.

Another layup by Perkins cut the Huskers’ lead to 9-7, but Nebraska responded with a free-throw jumper from Jessica Petrie and a transition layup by Hargrove. Bozan added another layup, but Ndiaye and Ivey knocked down triples as the Knights cut the lead back to two.

However, Kennadi Williams scored on a fast-break layup, and Bozan was fouled, making both before Hargrove made another layup off a steal to push the Huskers’ lead back to eight. Rutgers ended the quarter with Lester finding Perkins inside, who completed the three-point play, but Logan Nissley hit a three at the buzzer to put Nebraska up 24-16 after the end of the first quarter.

The Knights opened up the second quarter the same way they finished the first, with Walker finding Perkins inside, and Ivey hit a triple to cut the lead back to three, but Petrie answered it from the top of the key. She also scored a layup, as did Callin Hake, with the Huskers pushing the lead to ten early in the period. Prince drew contact and made both free throws as Nebraska went up a dozen before Hake cashed in from downtown to give Nebraska a 36-21 lead at the six-minute timeout.

Perkins snapped a long scoring drought with a layup to bring Rutgers back with 13, but a wide-open three from Nissley from the left corner and yet another steal and score by Hargrove saw the Huskers extend their lead to 19 on an 18-2 run. The Knights cut it to 14 as Ivey made a three-pointer, and Perkins scored on a layup, but Hake answered back with a right-wing three that sent the Huskers to the locker room up 45-28.

The second half saw another Rutgers drought and Nebraska run, as Nissley made a three-pointer, followed by a pair of layups from Hargrove. The Huskers opened up the quarter on an 11-4 run, pushing their already sizeable lead up to 24 points within the first four minutes of the quarter. A couple of layups from Ndiaye and Walker saw Nebraska lead the Knights 56-34 at the media timeout.

Out of the timeout, Hake knocked down another three before Ndiaye hit the mouth of Hailey Weaver on a layup attempt, which resulted in a pair of free throws for Prince on a flagrant one foul. Prince then hit another triple, and Ndiaye picked up another flagrant one, elbowing Callin Hake in the face and being kicked out of the game with her second flagrant foul in the last couple of minutes. Following this sequence, Hargrove finished at the rim and made a free throw as the Huskers went up 64-34 by the four-minute mark.

Petrie made a layup, followed by two free throws from Prince, and then Petrie, as Nebraska pushed its lead to 34 points after Antonia Bates split a pair at the free throw line. A layup from Claire Johnson then pushed the Huskers’ lead to 71-35. Ivey knocked down a triple, but the game was more than decided at the end of three quarters, with Nebraska up 75-40.

The fourth quarter was more of the same, with both teams struggling to score for the first few minutes before Bozan, Prince, and Johnson ballooned the lead to 81-40 approaching the six-minute mark. With subs coming in for Rutgers, Nebraska kept its seniors on the court longer before subbing them out to applause from their fans. A couple of late three-pointers from Johnson and Williams pushed the Huskers across the 90-point mark, as the final margin was 93-52.

Despite the lopsided nature of the game, Zachara Perkins led all scorers with 23 points, while Kaylah Ivey knocked down five threes for 15 points. Nene Ndiaye reached ten points despite getting ejected, but outside of those three, points were hard to come by for the majority of the team. The Knights made 40% of their field goals and 33% from deep, but the main discrepancy came in turnovers, as Rutgers turned the ball over 22 times, resulting in 32 Husker points.

Nebraska capitalized on 18 fast-break points, many from turnovers, and dominated in paint points 46-24. They also outrebounded the Knights by 11, and only turned the ball over five times, resulting in 3 Rutgers points. The Huskers shot 49% from the field, going 33-67, while they made 36% of their threes and 74% from the line. Scoring was balanced with Hargrove’s 18 leading the way, while Petrie’s 16 provided a strong bench contribution. Bozan added 12, Prince had 14, Nissley had 9, and Hake had 8, as several of the seniors were honored postgame.

For the Scarlet Knights, who were already eliminated from Big Ten Tournament contention, this game represented the struggles for most of the season: only a couple of players getting going, long scoring droughts, poor defense, and lots of turnovers. While Rutgers started the season strong in nonconference play, they were shellacked by Iowa 79-36 to open Big Ten play, and often rotated between close Big Ten losses and complete annihilations.

Their lone conference win came against Penn State, which was later flipped, and Rutgers led Indiana at the half, but were not able to scrape by even most of the lower-tier teams in the Big Ten en route to a disastrous 9-19 (1-16 Big Ten) season. Despite this, head coach Coquese Washington is confident that she will return next season, and cited the lack of her players’ health as a main driver in their lack of success.

For likely the last time this season, barring postseason invitation, this has been Arnav Sarkar signing off on 2025-26 women’s basketball coverage. It has been an honor to bring you these for most of the year, however tough it has been at times to watch.

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