Tartans Come Up Short in 54-47 Setback to Washington (Mo.)

Feb. 3 – (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University women’s basketball team lost 54-47 to the Washington (Mo.) University Bears in University Athletic Association (UAA) play on Sunday in Skibo Gymnasium. Both teams struggled shooting the ball, but the Bears came out victorious improving their record to 13-5 overall and 5-2 in the UAA. Carnegie Mellon drops to 7-11 overall and 0-7 in the UAA.

Baskets were at a premium in the first half for both teams. Washington started 2-of-17 from the field and the Tartans capitalized by leading 11-5 at the 9:46 mark. Junior point guard Stacie Aleski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley) stole the ball in the backcourt and laid the ball in the basket to give the Tartans the six point lead. With the score tied at 17, the Bears registered a five point possession when point guard Shanna-Lei Dacaney hit a three-pointer, missed the following free throw and forward Kathryn Berger collected the rebound and laid the ball in. Carnegie Mellon junior guard Meghan Macguire (Grand Island, N.Y.) hit a three-pointer with 14 seconds left in the half to send the Tartans into halftime trailing 24-20. Both teams shot under 30% from the field in the first twenty minutes.

Washington scored the first six points of the second half to build a double-digit lead and it hovered around that margin for the remainder of the game. The Tartans strung together an 8-2 run to pull within 45-39 at the 4:20 mark. Junior forward Jeannette Schilling (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek) sandwiched a lay-up in-between two sophomore guard Paige Williamson (Washington, Pa./Trinity) three-pointers. The Bears scored seven straight to lead by 13 with 1:52 remaining. Williamson and Aleski each hit a three-pointer down the stretch with Aleski’s trey coming at the buzzer.

Both teams registered balanced scoring in the game. Williamson’s three three-pointers propelled her to a team-high 11 points, and Aleski and Schilling chipped in with 10 points apiece. Junior forward Rachelle Roll (Ostrander, Ohio/Buckeye Valley) led the team with 11 rebounds and senior forward Leah Feola (Pittsburgh, Pa./Canevin Catholic) scored nine points and corralled ten rebounds in the loss.

Washington’s Zoe Unruh and Berger scored 11 points apiece and Dacanay added 10. Forward Janice Evans pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. Carnegie Mellon shot 31.7% and Washington shot 30.6% from the floor in the game. The difference was at the free throw line, with the Bears going 13-20 from the free throw line and Carnegie Mellon making three out of four.

The Carnegie Mellon women’s basketball team will next be in action on Friday, February 8 when they travel to St. Louis to face this same Washington (Mo.) University team. Game time is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. central time.