From University of Rochester Athletics
Tournament Most Valuable Player Alexandra Leslie scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the University of Rochester to a 71-60 victory over Ohio Wesleyan University in the Bishop Classic Hoops for Hope Tournament on Friday afternoon.
Leslie hit 12 of 14 shots from the floor. She scored four points in 47 seconds late in the third after OWU pulled within six, 44-38. Leslie added 10 more points in the final period. Her back-to-back baskets in the paint put UR ahead by 16, 71-55, with less than 1:50 to play.
Rochester improved to 8-2 overall, 5-0 away from home. The Yellowjackets are ranked #21 in the D3hoops.com poll and #22 by the WBCA. Ohio Wesleyan is 4-8. Goucher College of Pennsylvania took third place honors with a 68-61 win over Kalamazoo College on Friday.
Lauren Deming joined Leslie on the All-Tournament Team. She scored 11 points. Megan Kuether scored 18 points to lead the Battling Bishops. Taylor Dickson added 17 points. Both were named All-Tournament, along with Emily Kozal of Kalamazoo and Brianna Bull of Goucher College.
Rochester held a 44-24 advantage in bench scoring on Friday, the same numbers as Thursday when UR defeated Kalamazoo 85-67. Lena Ethington scored six points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the UR bench. Shea McCartney had five points. Four others scored at least two points. Lauren Foley, who scored 12 points as a reserve on Thursday, had seven points in her first varsity start.
UR led by five after one period (23-18). Ohio Wesleyan couldn't find an offensive rhythm. The Bishops were 1-14 from the floor in the second quarter and did not scored until the 5:12 mark when Nicole Popovich made a layup. Rochester was chilly in the second quarter, too. Leslie scored in the lane, Brenna James sank a trey, and Deming made a layup. That gave Rochester a 30-18 lead, its biggest to that point. OWU closed the period on a 7-2 run to pull within 32-25 at the break.
Notes: Leslie scored 46 points in the two wins. She boosted her career total to 1,055 points and sits in ninth place in career scoring. In 64 career games, she has scored 10 or more points 54 times… Deming has 58 points and 34 rebounds in her last five games… This was Leslie's second Tournament MVP honor. She was named the MVP in the Mark's Pizzeria Crosstown Shootout in early December when Rochester defeated St. John Fisher and Nazareth College… Leslie was 2-2 at the line vs. Kalamazoo Thursday night. That raises her career total to 313 free throws made, pushing her into third place all-time, one free throw ahead of Melissa Alwardt (2007-11)…. This was Rochester's 26th tournament championship in 18 years under Jim Scheible. It was the first time Rochester played in the Bishop Classic and was also the first time UR played Kalamazoo or Ohio Wesleyan in women's basketball… Friday's win was career victory number 475 overall for Scheible (475-214 in 26 years) and his 334th win at Rochester (in 18 years, counting 2016-17).