A big second half lifted the 10th-ranked University of Rochester women's basketball team to its seventh straight victory, as the Yellowjackets defeated Carnegie Mellon 90-64 on Sunday afternoon at the Louis Alexander Palestra.
 
After heading to intermission up eight, Rochester (13-1, 3-0 UAA) outscored the visiting Tartans 43-25 over the final twenty minutes to remain tied atop the University Athletic Association conference standings. Carnegie Mellon falls to 9-5 overall and 0-3 in the UAA with the loss.
 
The Yellowjackets were led by graduate student Katie Titus who had another great all-around game, leading all players with 29 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. She shot 8-for-16 from the field and was a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line.
 
Alexis Sestric added 16 points while Callie McCulley scored 12 on 5-of-7 shooting. Maura Leverone chipped in 8 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.
 
Carnegie Mellon was led by Isha Nambisan who had 15 points and four rebounds. Savannah Gibbs was the only other Tartan in double-figures, finishing with 10 points and five boards.
 

During the opening quarter, both teams traded decent runs, with the Yellowjackets nine-point surge answered with a Tartans seven-point run. After the opening ten minutes, Rochester led by two, up 23-21.
 
To start the second quarter, Titus drained a triple and Haley Dumiak added a layup inside and Rochester was quickly up by seven.
 
CMU cut the lead back to two, but Rochester scored the next nine points to reach a double-digit lead. Dumiak ignited the run while a Kelsey Stites 3-pointer capped the stretch in style for the Yellowjackets.
 
Late in the half, Catherine Or drained a three for the Tartans, only to see Sestric answer at the other end for Rochester, sending the teams into halftime with the Yellowjackets up eight 47-39.
 
Throughout the third quarter, the Yellowjackets methodically began to build its lead higher. Titus hit three's on back-to-back possessions to put UR up 12 with eight minutes to play in period.
 
As the quarter was wrapping up, a strong hustle play at both ends of the floor from Raquel Williams and Paige Gaynier built the lead to 20. Williams grabbed a rebound, started an outlet fast break and received a drop pass from Gaynier to beat the third quarter buzzer and make the score 75-55 heading to the fourth.
 
The Williams play was part of Rochester's biggest run of the game which reached 11 straight points spanning the third and fourth quarters. Abby Gress closed out the run off a nice dish from Leverone to reach the game-high 27-point lead with 8:30 left in the game.
 
Rochester ended the game shooting 44% (31-of-70) from the field, but held the Tartans to 30% shooting (18-of-60) on the other end. UR assisted on 22 of the 31 baskets and committed just 13 turnovers to add to its Division III leading assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
The Yellowjackets are back in action next weekend, but hit the road for two against Brandeis and NYU on Friday and Sunday.