Tartans Fall at Home to End Season

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University women's basketball team ended the 2011-12 season falling to Case Western Reserve University 57-43 on Saturday, February 25 in Skibo Gymnasium. The Tartans finish the year with a 9-16 overall mark and 3-11 record in University Athletic Association (UAA) play. The Spartans finish at 15-10 and 8-6.

The game started favorably for both teams as the lead changed hands three times with the score being tied six times for the first period.

Sophomore Jacquie Shaw (Portland, Ore./Grant) tied the game at 4-4, 3:29 in with back-to-back jumpers as the two teams traded baskets until 3:47 showed on the clock for the first half. The Tartans held the lead from the 14:28 mark when freshman Aspen McKeever (Durango, Colo./Durango) hit a three-pointer to give them their first advantage, 7-4, before Case Western tied the game an additional four times for the half.

The Tartans' largest lead of the half came with 12:23 to go when junior Emily Peel (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) scored on a layup off an assist from freshman Chandler Caufield (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny). On the Tartans' previous possession, Caufield hit a three-pointer that was assisted by Peel.

With 4:34 to play, freshman Gabrielle West (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) hit a jumper on a fastbreak to tie the game at 20-20.

From that point, the Spartans went on a 13-3 run to close the half to lead by 10 at the break.

The Spartans opened the second period much like ending the first with a 12-2 run to take their largest lead of the game 45-20 with 15:12 to go. Senior Erin Hollinger scored the first four points while junior Evy Iacono hit two trey's around two foul shots by freshman Brooke Orcutt.

The Tartans were unable to recover from either run falling by the 57-43 final score.

The Spartans defense held Peel, the Tartans' leading scorer at 15.8 points a game, to five points on 2-of-5 from the field and only three free throw attempts. West led the Tartans with 10 points as senior Jennifer Larsen (Exeter, N.H./Exeter) grabbed nine rebounds for a game-high.

Iacono finished with 17 points for the Spartans while Hollinger dropped in 15 as the visitors outrebounded the Tartans 42-32 for the game.

The Tartans recorded their best season since a 9-16 season in 2009-10 and won three conference games for the first time since the 2002-03 season when the team won five.