#10 Tartans Suffer First Defeat of Season

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University women's basketball team hosted Case Western Reserve University on Saturday, January 7 to open the University Athletic Association (UAA) season for both squads. The Spartans' defense led them to an 87-78 upset of the Tartans, ranked 10th in the nation and undefeated going into the game.

Senior center Lisa Murphy (McLean, Va./McLean) tied her career-high with 37 points and pulled down 16 rebounds to lead the Tartans who are now 11-1 for the year. Freshman Makayla Filiere (Chandler, Ariz./Hamilton) scored a career-high 20 points with fellow freshman Laurel Pereira (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North) scoring ten in her first career start with senior Jackie Hudepohl (Saratoga, Calif./Lynbrook (Colgate)) out of the lineup for the third straight game.

Case Western Reserve scored seven points off six first-quarter turnovers by the Tartans to hold a 14-12 edge after the first 10 minutes of play. The Tartans shot 47.1% from the field in the second quarter with Murphy scoring on 6-of-7 attempts to hold a slim 29-28 advantage at halftime.

After a back-and-forth third quarter that saw the lead change once with five different ties, the score was knotted at 56-56. CWRU's Hillary Hellmann owned the quarter, as she scored 20 of the team's 27 points. Murphy was the top scorer for the Tartans in the period with 13 points, as she made all five of her attempts from the field to go with three from the foul line.

The fourth quarter started like the third ended with the team's trading baskets. Murphy's fourth field goal of the period tied the game at 66-all with 5:19 to play but a two-minute 48-second drought by the Tartans followed helping the Spartans take a 10-point lead with an 11-1 run.

The Tartans couldn't recover from the double-digit deficit and the Spartans went on for the 87-78 win.

In the end, points off turnovers was the difference, as the Spartans scored 23 points off 19 turnovers by the Tartans while CWRU protected the ball with just six miscues.

Hellmann finished with a career-best 35 points, making six from behind the arc, with Jess McCoy scoring 16 and Kara Hageman chipping in 14 points to go with eight rebounds and six blocks.

The Tartans will head to Brandeis University for a 6:00 p.m. contest on Friday, January 13 for their next contest. The Judges opened UAA play with a home win against New York University and are 9-3 on the season.