Peel Leads Tartans to Season Sweep of Brandeis

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's basketball team swept the season series with Brandeis University after a 58-50 win at home Friday night in University Athletic Association (UAA) action. The Tartans boost their record to 12-9 and 4-6 in the UAA as the Judges drop to 8-13 and 2-8.

Senior Emily Peel (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) led the Tartans with 21 points and nine rebounds as the team held a five-point lead at the break, never lost the lead in the second period, and went on to the eight-point victory.

Twice Peel led the Tartans on runs in the first half as she shot 7-for-8 and scored 17 points. With the score in Brandeis' favor at 6-2, Peel scored seven points during a 12-3 run by the Tartans over a three-minute span to put the home team ahead 14-9 with 13:38 to play.

Brandeis answered with a 12-2 run to take a 21-16 lead with 9:45 to go before the Tartans closed the period on a 15-5 run, led by eight points by Peel, to take a 31-26 advantage into the locker room.

The Tartans forced the Judges into 11 first half turnovers and scored 14 points off them while shooting 43.3% from the field for the period. The home squad also scored 16 points in the paint.

The second period began like the first ended with a Tartan run as the Cardinal and Gray gained their largest lead of the game at 14 points after a 10-1 run.

The Judges did pull the score back to single digits and as close as seven points at the eight-minute mark following two free throws by Erika Higginbottom.

Freshman Liza Otto (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) contributed 14 points and eight rebounds with four assists while freshman Lindsay Poss (Poolesville, Md./Poolesville) scored seven including a jumper and a trey on back-to-back possessions in the second half.

The Tartans shooting slowed down in the second half as they finished with a shooting percentage of .381 to the Judges' .365. The Tartans also held the edge on the glass with 41 rebounds to the Judges' 39.

The Judges were led by Higginbottom's 12 points as Hannah Cain had 11 points.

The Tartans will look to secure their first winning season since the 2002-03 season with a victory against New York University (8-13, 1-9) on Sunday, February 10. The tip is set to start at 2:00 p.m. in Skibo Gymnasium.