Tartans Went Wire-to-Wire With Rochester

(ROCHESTER N.Y.) – The Carnegie Mellon University women's basketball team headed north on Friday, February 15 to the University of Rochester for a University Athletic Association (UAA) contest and dropped a heartbreaker 72-67.  The loss moves the Tartans record to 13-10, 5-7 while Rochester improves to 18-5, 10-2.

Back-to-back jumpers by sophomore Gabrielle West (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) gave the Tartans an early 9-5 lead, but the Yellowjackets used a 20-6 run over a five minute stretch to claim their largest lead of the game, 25-15, with 9:16 to play.

Carnegie Mellon didn't go away as a backdoor layup by freshman Amanda McHenry (Branchburg, N.J./Somerville) from fellow freshman Liza Otto (Glastonbury, Conn.) with 3:41 to play pulled the Tartans to within three at 29-26.  Rochester responded as junior Paige Aleski scored five straight points for the Yellowjackets to push the lead back to eight.  

In the final seconds of the half, West stole a Rochester pass and connected on a jumper with one second left to close the Yellowjacket lead to 36-32. After 20 minutes of action, the home team was led by 24 points from its bench while the Tartans managed just two.

The second half started with an 8-2 run by Rochester to match its largest lead of the game, 10 points, at 44-34. The Tartans then used a 13-6 run to close the gap to three (50-47).  During the run, McHenry was 3-of-3 from long range.

Seven minutes later, McHenry tied the score at 59-59 with another long ball before senior Emily Peel's (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) traditional three-point play with 5:58 to play in the second half gave the Tartans their first lead (64-63) since early in the first half.

Rochester regained the lead with 58 ticks left on the clock, 68-67, on a layup by Amy Woods.  The Yellowjackets Ally Zywicki then converted all four of her shots from the charity strip in the last minute to seal the 72-67 victory.

The Tartans finished the game shooting 38% from the floor while Rochester shot 34%. Four Tartans finished in double figures with McHenry, Otto and West each tallying 14.  Peel ended the night with 12 points.  Otto recorded a game-high 11 rebounds to rrecord her fifth double-double of the season.

Zywicki led Rochester with a game-high 24 points as Aleski ended with 11.    

The Tartans will head to Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday to play #21 Emory University.  Tip is set for 2:00 p.m.