Tartans Streak Ends at Case Western Reserve

(CLEVELAND, Ohio) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's basketball team opened University Athletic Association play with a 77-54 defeat at Case Western Reserve University on Saturday, January 10. The Tartans are now 9-2 and 0-1 while the Spartans move to 7-5 and 1-0.

The Tartans led 7-5 after a put-back bucket by freshman Lisa Murphy (McLean, Va./McLean) before Case went on a 7-0 run to take a 12-7 advantage with 13:37 to go in the half. Murphy stopped the run with another put back layup and junior Gabrielle West (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) drained a three-pointer to tie the game two minutes later.

Case then rattled off two different runs to take a 36-18 lead into the locker room.

The Spartans first run was led by Brooke Orcutt who started the 10-2 blitz with two three-point buckets. Sophomore Lindsay Poss (Poolesville, Md./Poolesville) put a stop to the run with a driving baseline jumper and then hit a shot in the lane before Case ended the final 5:11 with a 12-0 run.

Case held the advantage on the boards 35-24 with 15 offensive rebounds and seven second chance points. The Spartans also hit six three-pointers for the period as the Tartans hit a season-low eight baskets for the first half with a shooting percentage of .229.

The Spartans opened the second half extending their lead with a 17-4 run to lead 53-22 with 13:40 to play behind another scoring spree from behind the arc with three more treys.

The Tartans would shoot 44.1% from the floor in the second half but the late first-half run and early second-half run by the Spartans proved too much for the Cardinal and Gray to overcome.

West led the Tartans in the second half with eight of her 11 points while Murphy scored another six to lead the Tartans for the game with 12 points. Senior Jacquie Shaw (Portland, Ore./Grant) also found her shooting touch in the second half with seven points.

Orcutt led all scorers with 21 points including a career-high five three-pointers as the Spartans hit a season-high 11 treys for the game.

The Tartans were outrebounded for just the second time this season as the Spartans finished with 52 boards to the Tartans' 43 thanks in part of Orcutt's career-high 12 pull downs and junior Berit Eppard's 14 boards.

The Tartans will look to rebound on Friday, January 17 when they visit #12 Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., at 6:00 p.m.