From University of Rochester Athletics
The University of Rochester women's basketball team withstood a
furious rally from Washington-St. Louis and held on to defeat the
#2 ranked Bears 72-68 Friday night in the Wash U Field House.
The Yellowjackets (8-11, 2-6 UAA) topped the Bears for the third
straight time in St. Louis after dropping the first 23 games of the
series on Washington's home floor. The win snapped
Rochester's five game losing skid, its first streak of that nature
since the 2000-01 season. The loss snaps the Bears (17-2, 7-1
UAA) 13-game winning streak.
Rochester was led by seniors Loren Wagner and Danielle
McNabb. Wagner completed her 11th double-double of the season
with a game high 19 points and 15 rebounds. McNabb finished
with 13 points and five boards including a key-tip rebound late in
the game to seal the victory. Junior Blair Landolfi had 14
points on the night including going 5-of-6 from the free throw
line.
After leading by 13 points at the half behind some solid shooting,
Rochester allowed the Bears to get right back into the game with
eight straight points to start the second cutting the lead down to
five.
WU then got within three, but the Yellowjackets rattled off
nine straight points to build its edge back up to 12 points at
53-41 with 11:30 left in the contest.
The #2 ranked Bears showed their resilience though, scoring the
next 14 points to take their only lead of the second half at 55-53
with 8:26 to go in the game. Washington was paced by Melissa
Gilkey who had seven of her team high 18 points in the rush while
Jordan Thompson added five in the run. A Wagner lay-up ended
the run and tied the game with eight minutes left in the
contest.
After the teams traded baskets, sophomore Kelsey Hurley hit a huge
3-pointer, answering Washington's Maddy Scheppers' three to give
Rochester a slim 3-point cushion with 2:22 on the clock. Two
McNabb free throws made the lead five, but the Bears would answer
right away with a lay-in from Jordan Rettig to get the margin back
to three with 1:39 remaining. Hurley ended with seven points
and a career-high nine assists on the night.
Rochester then turned the ball over with under one minute to play.
Washington got an extra opportunity to tie the game with a three
pointer after the teams 21st offensive rebound of the game, but the
Alyssa Johanson shot from the corner didn't fall.
After getting the defensive board, UR did a good job using up the
entire shot clock and then got the biggest offensive rebound of the
game with just 11 seconds on the clock when McNabb tipped the miss
out to Landolfi. She calmly hit the front end of the 1-and-1
to give Rochester a four point lead at what would be the final
score of 72-68.
Besides Gilkey's 18 points, Washington had four other players in
double-digit scoring. Kristin Anda had her first
double-double of the year with 12 points and 11 rebounds while
Scheppers added 12 points and five assists. Both Thompson and
Johanson each scored 10.
As a team, UR shot 47.4% (27-57) from the floor while the Bears
shot 36.6% (26-71) in the game. Both teams protected the ball
well, only committing 20 turnovers combined between the
teams. Washington held a one rebound edge on the glass,
grabbing 39 boards to UR's 38.