Tartans Drop First Home Contest of the Season

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's basketball team dropped its first home contest of the year with Denison University taking the 80-73 victory. The Tartans are now 5-2 as the Big Red moves to 5-2.

How It Happened

• A back-and-forth first quarter saw the Tartans lead by as many as five points on a three-pointer by junior Catherine Or and trail by no more than two before leading by four, 21-17, at the quarter end.
• Denison outscored the Tartans by 10 points in the second quarter to hold a six-point advantage at 45-39.
• A 16-2 run by the Big Red gave the visitors a six-point lead with 5:20 to go in the half.
• The Tartans twice pulled it to within three points in the second quarter on a three-pointer by freshman Allie Heyer and a jumper in the paint by freshman Kayla Delmore but Denison ended the period with six points in the paint to a three-pointer by sophomore Ava Arias to hold the six-point advantage at the break.
• Denison shot 68.8% from the field in the second quarter with 12 points in the paint and seven second-chance points.
• A low-scoring third quarter witnessed the Tartans pull to within one point twice, both on three-pointers by sophomore Liv LaFond and Heyer.
• An 11-1 run over the first four minutes of the final period gave Denison a 13-point lead.
• Or scored on a layup with 1:39 to go to make it a five-point game but Denison answered after a timeout with a layup and free throw to lead again by eight points.
• After Or hit a jump shot with 38 seconds to go, Denison closed the game hitting 5-of-6 from the free throw line to close out the road victory.

For the Tartans

• Or returned from a three-game hiatus to score 28 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the floor and 10-of-11 made free throws.
• Sophomore Savannah Gibbs finished with 15 points after playing just 20 minutes due to foul trouble, after she picked up her fourth foul with 8:37 to go in the third quarter.
• Delmore finished with 12 points.
• LaFond led on the boards with a season-high eight rebounds.

For the Big Red

• Ada Taute led three players in double figures with 16 points.
• Abby Cooch scored 15 points with six assists and Brooke Toigo had 10 points.
• Taute and Maddie Goodman each had five assists for the team who had a season-best 20 assists.
• Perkins collected 10 rebounds, followed by Demi Brewer and Bri-O Connor with six.
• Brewer also collected four assists.
• Tahirah Ellis had three blocks.

Notes

• The Tartans trailed at the half for the first time this season.
• The Tartans were outrebound for the first time this season.
• Or's 28 points was two off matching her career-high of 30 set against Emory in 2022 and WashU in 2023.

Up Next

The Tartans host Geneva College on Monday, December 4 at 5:30 p.m. for their third game in five days.