Tartans Fall 66-52 at WASHU

(ST. LOUIS, Mo.) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's basketball team traveled to Washington University in St. Louis on Sunday for its final road University Athletic Association (UAA) contest and dropped a 66-52 decision. Carnegie Mellon is now 10-12 overall and 3-8 in UAA play while WASHU moves to 13-9 and 6-5.

Senior Laurel Pereira (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North) led the Tartans with 15 points. Sophomore Caitlyn Clendenin (Bethesda, Md./Bethesda Chevy Chase) ended with 10 points with her and Pereira along with sophomore Emily Archer (Chatham, N.J./Oak Knoll) each recording six rebounds to lead the Tartans.

Kristina Schmelter led the Bears with a game-high 24 points. Sammi Matoush was the only other Bear in double figures, as she recorded 15.

The first quarter saw neither team shoot the rock well with Carnegie Mellon converting 5-of-14 (35.7%) and the home team being held to 15.4% making 2-of-13 over the first ten minutes, as the Tartans led 10-6 at the close.

A put-back layup by senior Cameron Pitts (Frederick, Md./Oakdale) with 5:17 to play in the second quarter gave Carnegie Mellon its largest lead of the first half at 22-14. The Bears responded scoring the next nine points and took their first lead of the contest, 23-22, with 3:12 left in the first half. The home team then went into the locker room with a 28-26 advantage.

The lead changed six times with score tied on five other occasions throughout the third quarter with the Bears holding a 46-41 lead heading into the fourth. In the final seconds of the third, Naomi Jackson connected on a triple to give the Bears their largest lead of the contest and also pushed the home teams run to 8-2 to close out the frame.

WASHU opened the fourth quarter scoring the first seven points and then expanded its run to 23-4 dating back to the end of the third quarter to make the score 61-43 with 4:54 to play. The Bears stayed in control over the final five minutes and went on for the 66-52 win.

Carnegie Mellon returns home on Friday, February 21 against Emory University with tip set for 6:00 p.m.