Danielle McNabb's career high 21 points along with a bench that outscored St. John Fisher's 42-5 helped fuel the Rochester women's basketball team to a 76-66 victory Tuesday night in the Palestra. McNabb made a career high eight field goals along with tying a career high with eight rebounds to be the star for the Yellowjackets.
The first half for both teams proved to be sluggish with neither teams finding the basket early. The Cardinals (5-8) were the first team to reach 10 points after over seven minutes of game time. St. John Fisher was able to hang with the #5 ranked team in the country throughout most of the first half with the score being within one point as late as two minutes remaining in the session.
Rochester (12-0) was paced in the half by
Kelly Scull's six points (3-3 FG) and McNabb's eight points and five rebounds. At the half, Fisher's Portia Velasco and Camaryn Buckner each had seven points. Rochester ended the first half on a 10-0 run to take the lead by six, 32-26.
The second half started with a 7-0 Fisher run allowing the Cardinals to take the lead. A McNabb layup five minutes into the second half put the Yellowjackets up 38-37, giving them a lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the game.
UR's bench ended up outscoring the shorthanded Cardinals who only played seven players by a 37 point margin. The Yellowjackets ended with three players in double figures with
Jackie Walker and
Loren Wagner's 10 points each joining McNabb's career high 21 point mark. Scull finished a perfect 4-4 from the floor and also finished with a career high eight points. Wagner pulled down nine rebounds and Walker dished out five assists to lead UR.
For St. John Fisher, Meghan Soja and Buckner led the way with 17 points apiece with Velasco finishing with 15. Sydney Bloomstein was the Cardinals leading rebounder finishing with eight boards, while Brooke Seavitt and Velasco handed out four assists each.
Rochester's remaining schedule is all in-conference within the UAA where they currently have a 1-0 record after defeating Emory University last Saturday. Up next for the Yellowjackets is a trip to Massachusetts to play Brandeis University on Friday and then down to New York City to play NYU on Sunday.
