Women's Basketball Holds On to Edge Bison 71-68

Jan. 14 – (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – A pair of double-doubles from junior forward Rachelle Roll (Ostrander, Ohio/Buckeye Valley) and senior forward Leah Feola (Pittsburgh, Pa./Canevin Catholic) propelled the Carnegie Mellon University women’s basketball team to a 71-68 victory over the visiting Bethany Bison on Monday night at Skibo Gymnasium. A three-point attempt from Bethany freshman guard Kelly Goode was off the mark as time expired to preserve the Tartan victory. Carnegie Mellon improves to 7-5 with the win while the Bison fall to 7-6.

Carnegie Mellon jumped out to an early lead as Feola’s lay-up at the 16:56 mark made it 8-2 in favor of the home team. Bethany managed to take the lead later in the half but a three-pointer by Tartan junior point guard Stacie Aleski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley) tied the game at 25 at the 9:01 mark. Aleski added a lay-up with 14 seconds left in the half to send the Tartans into the locker room up 35-32.

Carnegie Mellon reeled off nine straight points to take their biggest lead of the game at 46-34 with 16:38 remaining but Bethany made things interesting down the stretch. Five straight Bison points narrowed the Tartan lead to 65-61 with 1:46 left. Bethany cut their deficit to two points on a lay-up from Goode with 16 seconds left but Roll hit both free throws on the other end of the floor to bring the Tartan lead back to four. Bison freshman guard Tara Harris stepped way behind the arc to connect on a three-pointer to make the score 69-68 with eight seconds left. Aleski was fouled and hit both her free throws setting up the last second three point attempt by Goode.

Roll finished with a game-high 17 points and a career-high 17 rebounds to lock up her second career double-double. Feola also collected 17 points to go with career-highs of 14 rebounds and seven steals for her fourth career double-double. Aleski contributed 14 points in the win. Bethany was led by junior guard Kaitlyn McCormick’s 15 points and Goode’s 14 points and six steals. Harris added 11 points and nine rebounds in the loss.

Both teams shot 50% in the first half before cooling off in the final twenty minutes. The Tartans finished shooting 41.9% compared to Bethany’s 39.4%. Carnegie Mellon out rebounded Bethany 52-37 but the Tartans committed 33 turnovers whereas Bethany turned the ball over 26 times.

The Carnegie Mellon women’s basketball team will be in action again on Friday, January 18 when they host University Athletic Association (UAA) opponent Brandeis University in Skibo Gymnasium. Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m.