Five in Double Figures Lead Tartans to 100-59 Win

(NEW WILMINGTON, Pa.) - Five players in double figures led the Carnegie Mellon University women's basketball team to a 100-59 victory on Saturday, December 28 at Westminster College. The Tartans are now 6-2 while the Titans fall to 2-6.

After having nearly the entire month off, with their last game taking place on December 1, the Tartans seemed to not miss a beat as they shot 49.4% for the game, including 10 shots from behind the arc, to score 100 points for the second time this season.

Leading the Tartans was junior Gabrielle West (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) with 17 points on 7-for-17 shooting from the field with six rebounds. Freshman Lisa Murphy (McLean, Va./McLean) shot 87.5% from the floor with seven made buckets to score 16 points while she hauled in eight boards.

Junior Chandler Caufield (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) hit her first of four three-pointers for the game with 11:28 to go in the first period to give the Tartans a 16-14 lead and one they wouldn't let go of as they went on to lead by as many as 24 points in the first half. Freshman Uzoma Nwankwo (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson) put in the bucket to give the Tartans a 42-18 lead on a possession directly after she blocked a shot and grabbed the defensive rebound.

The Titans opened the game shooting 6-for-11 from the field to hold a 14-10 lead, which was their largest, but ended the final 18 minutes of the period shooting just 27.3% (6-22).

The Tartans started the second half on a 9-1 run to lead 58-31 with 17:28 still to play. Caufield opened the half with a trey before senior Jacquie Shaw (Portland, Ore./Grant), sophomore Liza Otto (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) and Murphy scored on layups.

Ten seconds after entering the game in the second half, freshman Sade Idera (Morris Plains, N.J./Morris Catholic) nailed a three-pointer for her first bucket of the game and first of three from behind the arc, to put the Tartans up by 27 points, 65-38 with 12:34 to go.

For the game, Caufield tallied 14 points with Idera and Shaw both scoring 12. Caufield also picked up five assists while Murphy and Shaw each had three blocked shots, Murphy's being a career-high.

The Tartans will return to the hardwood on Monday, December 30 when they travel across Forbes Avenue to Chatham University to face the Cougars at 2:00 p.m.