Tartans Nearly Pull Upset of #17 Trine

(MARIETTA, Ohio) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's basketball team faced its first nationally-ranked opponent on Friday, December 29 in No. 17 Trine University at the Marietta College Jim Meagle Holiday Classic. The Tartans just missed converting a game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer and fell to the Thunder by a 60-57 score. The Tartans are now 7-3 while the Thunder move to 9-2.

How It Happened

• The Tartans trailed 18-11 after the first quarter following a 5-of-13 effort from the floor while Trine shot 7-for-21. The Thunder scored nine points off 10 Tartan turnovers in the first frame.
• Trine scored the first two baskets of the second quarter and led by 12 before the Tartans cut it to six on a layup by sophomore Savannah Gibbs with 7:02 still to go.
• The Thunder led by double-digit two more times in the second quarter but only held a six-point lead at the break thanks to a driving layup by junior Anisha Chintala with 35 seconds to go.
• The Tartans held a 22-14 edge in points in the paint while Trine was 4-of-8 from the free throw line and hit two more three-pointers in the first half.
• A triple by freshman Kayla Delmore to open the second half put the Tartans down by three points.
• The Thunder's largest lead of the quarter was seven points while the Tartans got within two points twice, first with an and-one play by Chintala and second with a fast break pull-up jumper by sophomore Piper Ligotti following a steal by Gibbs.
• The Tartans hit three long-distance shots in the third quarter to keep it close, as Trine shot 63.6% from the floor with all seven made shots from inside the arc.
• Gibbs opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer to make the score 48-47 to Trine and junior Catherine Or pulled up for a jumper to also bring the Tartans within one point at 50-49 before Trine would lead by seven with just under three minutes to play.
• Or scored twice in the last 2:10 to bring the Tartans within three points but two three-point attempts by the Tartans in the last nine seconds fell short and Trine held on for the win.

For the Tartans

• Or led the Tartans with 16 points and four assists.
• Gibbs tallied 13 points and led the team with nine rebounds while also dishing out four assists.
• Chintala finished with 11 points and led the team with five steals.
• Delmore and Or each made two three-pointers.

For the Thunder

• Sidney Wagner scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. She also led the team with five assists and five steals.
• Sierra Hinds tallied 17 points.

Notes

• The Tartans held the Thunder to their lowest three-pointer percentage in the past five games at 22.2% with just four made.
• The Tartans forced the Thunder into 19 turnovers, their second-largest amount of the season.
• The Tartans only visited the free throw line once, making that attempt, which is a season-low. The previous season-low was five made against Washington & Jefferson College on November 10 and six attempted against Pitt-Greensburg on November 21.

Up Next

The Tartans will play Mount Aloysius College (4-6) on Saturday, December 30 at 2:00 p.m. to finish their appearance at the Marietta College Jim Meagle Holiday Classic.