Rutgers tops UTEP with :02 left

EL PASO, Texas – Tyler Scaife went coast-to-coast and scored with 2 seconds left to give Rutgers the Women’s National Invitation Tournament championship with a 56-54 win over UTEP on Saturday.

Rutgers (28-9), which led 30-16 at the half, withstood a furious second-half rally by UTEP (29-8), which tied it at 54 with 7 seconds to play on a putback by Chrishauna Parker.

Scaife took the inbounds pass and raced downcourt to score the winning points to quiet UTEP’s home sellout crowd of 12,222.

“I just knew we had to get down the floor and score,” said Scaife, a freshman who was named the tournament MVP. “I’m happy it went in.

“I’m just happy we finished the season off like this.”

Rutgers Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer, who won her 929th game, said her team did well to win in a tough environment – and for the third straight time on the road.

“First of all, I think give credit to UTEP,” she said. “Great crowd, outstanding team and a great coaching job. They really truly are an outstanding team. I think that, easily, UTEP could’ve been an NCAA (tournament) team. But what’s most important – I thought that we probably got the greatest experience of them all, because I don’t think it could be rougher than that. I know it can’t be rougher than that in the Final Four.”