Hot Shooting Stops Tartans For Second Straight Game

(UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's basketball team traveled to John Carroll University for its second road game in as many days, falling to the Blue Streaks 93-79 on Sunday afternoon at DeCarlo Varsity Center. The Tartans are now 5-2 on the year while John Carroll improves to 3-0.

The Tartans were led by junior guard Gabrielle West (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) for the second straight game, as she scored a career-high 27 points, making a career-best 15-of-17 from the free throw line to go with five buckets from the field. Sophomore Liza Otto (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) recorded her first double-double of the year and sixth for her career with 15 points and 10 rebounds, both season highs.

The Blue Streaks opened the game with an 11-2 run and stretched their lead to 18-6, six-and-a-half minutes into the game with two free throws by Melissa Spahar.

West then led the Tartans on a 15-6 run with seven straight points to bring the Cardinal and Gray within three points, 24-21, with 9:30 to go in the half, but the home squad responded with a 13-4 run to push their advantage back to 12 points.

John Carroll's hot shooting continued for the half as they closed the period scoring on eight of their final 11 possessions, missing just two shots from the field and hitting all six free throw attempts, to lead by as many as 20 points and 53-36 at the break.

The Blue Streaks hit 59.4% from the floor for the period and 13-of-14 from the charity stripe compared to the Tartans, who shot 35.1% from the field and 7-of-11 from the line.

John Carroll held a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game except for when West hit a three-pointer with 16:30 to play to bring the team within nine points and junior Chandler Caufield (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) converted a jumper with three minutes to go to pull the Tartans within eight points.

Senior Jacquie Shaw (Portland, Ore./Grant) finished the game with 14 points scored for the Tartans while Otto set a career-high in steals with six.

For John Carroll, Spahar was the game's high scorer with 32 points as she also grabbed 12 rebounds. Beth Switzler dropped in 16 points while Allison Lustig, Emily Taylor and Katlyn Spahar each had 11 points.

The Tartans will break for the remainder of the month before traveling to Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa., on Saturday, December 28 for a 4:00 p.m. contest.