#17 New York University Squeaks By Tartan Women
Stats
Feb. 10 - (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon women’s basketball team hung tough with the visiting #17 ranked New York University Violets but in the end fell short lossing 58-50 Friday, February 10 in Skibo Gymnasium. The loss drops the Tartans to 5-16 overall and 0-10 in the University Athletic Association (UAA), while the Violets up their record to 18-3 overall and 7-3 in the UAA.
In the first half the Tartans took an 11-10 lead on a lay-up by forward Jeanette Schilling (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek) off a pass from guard Leah Feola (Pittsburgh, Pa./Canevin Catholic) with 12:43 remaining, but then fell behind and went into the half down 32-22.
In the pivotal first five minutes of the second half the Tartans went on a 12-3 run to close the gap to 35-34 at the 16:07 mark. After a New York timeout, the Violets answered with a 10-2 run to increase their lead to 45-36. Carnegie Mellon didn’t wither away however, as they stepped up their defense and closed the margin to two points with 3:05 remaining. The Tartans had a couple chances to tie or take the lead, but each opportunity went to waste as the Violet defense stepped up to the challenge. A three by guard Gemma Easterling (Upper Marlboro, Md./Charles H. Flowers) that would have given the Tartans the lead with 2:25 left was short and the Violets rebounded and made their foul shots the rest of the way.
Schilling came off the bench to lead the Tartans with 12 points, and Easterling contributed nine points and forward Rachelle Roll (Ostrander, Ohio/Buckeye Valley) added eight in the loss. Senior Rebecca Shore (State College, Pa.) tallied a game-high eight rebounds to go with her four points. The Violets received a balanced scoring effort as five players scored at least eight points with Karen Bachman’s 10 points leading the team.
The Achilles heel for Carnegie Mellon was their free throw shooting, as they wound up 5-13 on the evening, while New York went 15-19, including 6-7 down the stretch. The Tartans’ stingy defense held the Violets to 31.7% shooting for the game, including only 24% in the second half. The Tartans shot 37.5% for the game, but committed 18 turnovers to New York’s 14 and were out rebounded 45-40 on the night.
The Carnegie Mellon women’s basketball team will next be in action on Sunday, February 12 when they host the #15 ranked Brandeis University Judges in Skibo Gymnasium. The game is scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m. The two teams met on January 6 with Brandeis winning 81-66.
