The University of Rochester used and extended 37-4 run over the middle portion of the game to break the UAA contest open and pull away from the Carnegie Mellon Tartans en route to a 74-29 victory on Sunday afternoon in the Palestra. The win sets a new Rochester record for wins to start a season at 16. The previous record was 15-0 set by two teams in the 2000s.
After a sluggish start to the game with only nine total points being scored in the first 6:30 of the game, nobody wanted to take control of the game. Rochester (16-0, 4-0) struggled with turnovers in the early minutes, committing eight mishaps leading to Carnegie Mellon points. UR then grabbed its first lead at 9-8 with a
Jackie Walker layup at 10:47.
Five three's by
Kristyn Wright,
Laney Ming and
Ally Zywicki who made three, fueled a 22-2 run to close out the end of the half to build the Yellowjacket lead into double digits. To the half in style, senior
Jodie Luther hit a buzzer-beater with 0.5 seconds on the clock. At the break, Rochester led by 22 at 35-13.
Midway through the game, leaders for Rochester were Zywicki who had nine points (3-3 3-pt FG) and Luther who scored eight while grabbing six rebounds. The Tartans (6-9, 0-4) only got scoring from three players in the first half, with Jacquie Shaw leading the way with six points. Emily Peel added five and had five rebounds at the break.
Rochester's run continued through the early portions of the second half with
Amy Woods and Wright powering UR to a 15-2 start in the second half. At that point, the lead ballooned to 35 and seemed to deflate CMU.
The one way play continued throughout the remainder of the game. The big lead gave Rochester the opportunity to play some reserves and get them valuable minutes and experience.
Leading the way for the Yellowjackets was Zywicki who finished with 12 points who hit 4-4 from 3-point range.
Amy Woods added in nine points and four rebounds off the bench. Three players finished with eight points, Luther, Walker and Wright. For the game, Rochester shot 44% from the floor and added 23 assists. The Yellowjackets hit 9 of 21 from 3-point range and out rebounded the Tartans 52-32. All but one UR player scored.
Carnegie Mellon was led by Shaw and Elissa Goldner who finished with eight points apiece.
Rochester next two contests are in the Midwest where two top-10 ranked teams await. UR first travels to Washington University (MO) on Friday and then visits the University of Chicago on Sunday.
