Tartans Hold Home Court, Upset #20 New York 71-68

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - Senior Jacquie Shaw (Portland, Ore./Grant) scored a season-high 20 points and scored what ended up as the winning points, as the Carnegie Mellon University women's basketball team defeated No. 20 New York University 71-68 on Friday night in front of an amped up student section. The Tartans improve to 11-6 on the year and 2-4 in the University Athletic Association as the Violets move to 15-2 and 4-2.

After a defensive rebound by senior Jennifer Elkin (Reisterstown, Md./Carver Center for Arts & Tech), Shaw grabbed what could be her most important rebound of the season to date when she bolted into the lane for an offensive board and a putback to give the Tartans the lead for good with 25 seconds remaining.

Murphy made it a three-point game with two free throws with 12 seconds left after the Violets missed two of their own from the line. Two three-point attempts by the Violets then fell short as the Tartans went on for the upset win over the 20th-ranked team in the country, 71-68.

The Tartans used a 12-0 run over a four-minute span to take a 18-12 lead with 6:47 to go in the half after the Violets opened the game with a 9-2 lead. During the Tartans run, Shaw, junior Gabrielle West (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) and sophomore Liza Otto (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) each had four points.

Megan Dawe then pulled the Violets within two points, 20-18, with a layup before West drained a three-pointer to put the home squad back up by five with just over four minutes to go in the half.

The Violets quickly tied the game after a trey and two free throws by Kaitlyn Read and later took the lead back with a three-pointer by Amy Harioka with 1:09 to go. However, the Tartans were able to hold a 31-30 halftime advantage after Shaw scored her fifth basket of the half and West put in 2-of-3 from the charity stripe in the closing seconds.

The visitors came out of the locker room with their shot ready to go, making 7-of-9 from the field over the first six minutes and jumped out to a 50-33 lead.

Five minutes later the Tartans were back within two points as Otto led the team on a 15-0 run with nine points.

As the Violets clinged to a 55-50 lead, the Tartans turned three Violet turnovers into six points to take their first lead since the break with 5:27 to play.

The lead changed hands a few times before the Violets were ahead again after Melissa Peng hit a three-pointer to give New York a 66-60 advantage.

The Tartans leading scorer, freshman Lisa Murphy (McLean, Va./McLean), who was shutout in the first half and limited to four shot attempts with three fouls, scored four points to help bring the Tartans back to within one point with under a minute to go. Murphy finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for her fifth straight double-double.

Otto also scored a season-high 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the year. To go with Shaw's 20 points, the senior also picked up four assists and four steals with six rebounds.

Read finished with a team-high 18 points for the Violets with Dawe scoring 15.

The Tartans will next face Brandeis University (9-8, 3-3) on Sunday, February 2 at 1:00 p.m. in Skibo Gym.