ST. LOUIS, MO- 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.
 
The Yellowjackets now move on to face the University of Chicago on Sunday with the tip scheduled for 2 pm central time (3 pm eastern).