Pereira Ties School Record with Seven Three-pointers in Loss at Case Western Reserve

(CLEVELAND, Ohio) – Junior Laurel Pereira (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North) tied the school record for made three-pointers in a game with seven, but her long range game couldn't match that of the Case Western Reserve University women's basketball team and the Carnegie Mellon University Tartans fell 69-52 in the final game of the season. The score dropped the Tartans to 12-13 for the year and 3-11 in the University Athletic Association (UAA). The Spartans moved to 15-10 and 7-7.

Pereira finished with a career-high 25 points to lead the Tartans while freshman Caitlyn Clendenin (Bethesda, Md./Bethesda Chevy Chase) recorded 10 points. Pereira's seven three-pointers tied Gabrielle West (2013) and Nicole Vaccarella (2010) with the most made from behind the arc by a Tartan in a single game.

CWRU built a 17-9 lead shooting 70.0% from the floor. They would go on to lead 21-13 by the end of the first quarter.

The Tartans roared back with a 7-2 run to trail 23-20 four minutes into the second period. The Tartans continued to force Case Western Reserve into turnovers, forcing nine for the half, but couldn't convert offensively to get any closer during the frame. The Spartans ended up scoring six straight to push the lead back to nine before Pereira hit a jumper in transition with 34 seconds remaining and the score sat at 29-22 at the break.

The Spartans ended up shooting 46.2% from the floor in the first half while the Tartans hit just 28.6%.

Behind the hands of Pereira, the Tartans shot 5-of-7 from long range in the third with Pereira hitting 4-of-5, but still trailed the Spartans because of two triples in the final minute by Kara Hageman and Emma Cain. Those shots by the Spartans made the score 44-39 heading into the final 10 minutes of action.

With the opening shot of the fourth quarter, Pereira drained her seventh three-pointer of the game, tying the school record and making the score 44-42 Case Western Reserve. Just as fast as the Tartans cut the deficit to two, the Spartans answered and pushed their advantage back to double digits with a 12-2 run over the next three minutes and change. The run was extended to 22-3 with three minutes to play making the score 66-45.

Hageman finished the game with 22 points for the Spartans while senior Hillary Hellman, who hit three triples in the final frame, finished with 15 points. The Spartans hit 44.8% from the floor for the game and made 10 three-pointers while winning the rebounding battle 47 to 31.