Stringer honored, No. 4 Ohio State women beat Rutgers 82-70

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — With Rutgers making a run at No. 4 Ohio State, Rebeka Mikulasikova and Taylor Mikesell wouldn’t let the Buckeyes lose.

Mikulasikova scored a career-high 31 factors and Taylor Mikesell added 30 to assist the Buckeyes beat Rutgers 82-70 on Sunday, a day that the Scarlet Knights honored former coach C. Vivian Stringer.

“We had been taking part in off one another and benefiting from scoring alternatives after they got here to us,” Mikesell mentioned. “We made some actually massive performs down the stretch.”

Mikesell was excited that Ohio State was capable of be there when Rutgers devoted its courtroom to Stringer, who retired after final season on the age of 74.

“She’s a legend in ladies’s basketball, particularly right here,” Mikesell mentioned. “With the ability to be right here and honor her was fairly cool.”

There have been solely a handful of faculties to call their courts after ladies’s basketball coaches, together with Tennessee for Pat Summitt, North Carolina State for Kay Yow, Arkansas-Little Rock for Joe Foley and DePaul for Doug Bruno.

Stringer was in attendance and at halftime her household and lots of former gamers gathered on the courtroom to have fun the dedication of it. Rutgers officers gave Stringer a chunk of the ground that her groups performed on as a present.

“The very first thing for us was to return out and to provide an important efficiency for Coach Stringer,” Rutgers coach Coquese Washington mentioned. “This can be the final time she watches a recreation in Jersey Mike’s Enviornment and we wished our efficiency to be reflective of what she poured into this college and program in her time right here.”

Buoyed by the return of their Corridor of Fame coach, Rutgers performed its greatest recreation of the season towards a ranked opponent. Ohio State (8-0) jumped out to a 20-6 lead after one quarter, however the Scarlet Knights (4-6) wouldn’t go away.

They had been down 18 close to the top of the half earlier than Kaylene Smikle hit a 3-pointer simply earlier than the buzzer to get inside 43-28. Rutgers continued that momentum within the second half and made it 53-45 with 3:25 left within the third quarter.

Mikulasikova and Mikesell then scored the following six factors for Ohio State to revive the double-digit benefit, and Rutgers couldn’t get better.

“No Large Ten recreation goes to be simple,” Mikesell mentioned. “Having the win is vital and there’s plenty of issues we have to clear up. Approaching the highway, you possibly can’t stroll right into a enviornment and play the best way we did and win most nights.”

Smikle led Rutgers with 21 factors.

Ohio State was lacking guard Jacy Sheldon (foot damage). She is averaging 16 factors a recreation.

TIP-INS

Rutgers has struggled this season towards ranked opponents, going 0-3. The Scarlet Knights additionally misplaced to Tennessee and Texas by a median of 39 factors. … The No. 4 rating is the very best for Ohio State since January 2010, when the workforce was fourth for one week.

TRIBUTES

All through the sport, Rutgers performed video tributes to Stringer, together with from South Carolina coach Daybreak Staley, Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer and former participant Essence Carson.

UP NEXT

Ohio State hosts New Hampshire on Thursday.

Rutgers visits Illinois on Wednesday.

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AP ladies’s school basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25