Women’s Basketball Defeats Waynesburg 64-59

Nov. 29 - (WAYNESBURG, Pa.) The Carnegie Mellon women's basketball traveled to Waynesburg College Tuesday, November 29, and came away with a 64-59 victory over the Yellowjackets. The win marks the Tartans first of the year moving them to 1-3. The Yellowjckets even their record at 2-2 with the loss.

Carnegie Mellon started the game on a 15-7 run before Waynesburg scored 19 of the next 23 points to take a 26-19 lead with 5:58 to play in the first half. The Tartans would not give up, as they ended the half on a 9-2 run to cut the Yellowjacket lead to 36-34 heading into the locker room.

Tartan freshman Gemma Easterling (Upper Marlboro, Md./Charles H. Flowers) would start the second half with a jump shot just 32 seconds into the half to knot the score at 36-36 and start a 9-0 run. Two possessions later senior Dava Sommermeyer (Leonia, N.J./Academy for Advance Sci & Tech) put the Tartans on top for good when her jumper from the top of the key found the bottom of the net to put Carnegie Mellon ahead 38-36. Carnegie Mellon would build a lead of 11 points late in the second half off a made hoop by freshman Stacie Aleski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley) and hold on from there for the five point victory.

Easterling led the way for the Tartans, as she recorded a season-high 15 points while dishing out three assists and converting five steals. Sommermeyer was the only other Tartan in double figures as she added 13 points. Freshman Rachelle Roll (Ostrander, Ohio/Buckeye Valley) was strong under the basket for Carnegie Mellon grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds. Freshman Ashley Rothwell (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Alvernia) finished one point and rebound shy of a double-double with nine points and nine boards.

The Tartans played near mistake free basketball converting nine turnovers to the Yellowjackets 17. Carnegie Mellon also had the edge on the glass pulling in 49 rebounds (24 offensive) to Waynesburg 35.

Carnegie Mellon will be back in action Saturday, December 3 as they open up University Athletic Association competition. The Tartans will travel to Rochester N.Y. to play the University of Rochester for a 2:00 p.m. tip.