Women’s Basketball Open Season With 70-62 Victory

Nov. 18 – (LANCASTER, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon women’s basketball team opened their 2006-2007 campaign with a 70-62 victory over Villa Julie College Saturday, November 18. With the victory the Tartans move into the championship game of the Terry Greene Tip Off Classic held at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. Carnegie Mellon is now 1-0 on the season, while Villa Julie is 0-1.

The Tartans wasted little time jumping out to an early 9-0 lead just under two and half minutes into play. The Tartans would maintain the lead most of the first half until the closing minutes, as Villa Julie went on a 12-2 run to take the 28-24 lead into the locker room.

After battling back-and-forth Carnegie Mellon would take the lead for good at the 16:02 mark in the second stanza, when sophomore forward Jeanette Schilling (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek) took the pass from sophomore Colleen Light (Colts Neck, N.J./Saint John Vianney) and laid the ball into the hoop giving the Tartans the 34-33 advantage. Carnegie Mellon would extend their lead to 11 three different times before going onto the eight point (70-62) victory.

Carnegie Mellon controlled the boards hauling in 45 to Villa Julie’s 34. The Tartans would outscore the Mustangs in the paint 40-28 with ten of those coming as second chance points.

Leading the Tartans was sophomore post player Ashley Rothwell (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Alvernia) shooting 6-of-8 from the field recording a career-high 18 points. Rothwell also was a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe. Junior guard Leah Feola (Pittsburgh, Pa./Canevin Catholic) and Light each had 16 points and eight rebounds, respectively. Feola added five assists and three blocks, marking career highs, as Light’s 16 point and eight rebounds were career bests.

The Tartans will be back in action Sunday, November 19 when they play Penn State Altoona in the championship game set for a 3:00 p.m. tip.