Visiting Carnegie Mellon University held the University of Rochester women's basketball team to just three made field goals and a game-low 11 points in the fourth quarter to earn a 57-52 University Athletic Association win on Friday evening at the Louis Alexander Palestra.
 
The Tartans improve to 10-5 overall on the season and level their record in conference play with a 2-2 mark. Rochester, meanwhile, drops to 8-7 overall and 1-3 in the UAA.
 
Annelise Dexter paced the Yellowjackets on Friday with 13 points, adding three rebounds and two blocks. Tia Poulakidas was the only other Rochester player in double-figures, finishing with 11 points and five boards.
 
Carnegie Mellon's Nicole Timko led all scorers with 19 points in the game, adding a game-high eight rebounds. Aleena Dinker ended with 15 points and four steals for the Tartans.
 
URochester jumped out to an early lead and stifled the Tartans in the first quarter, holding the visitors to 1-for-10 shooting, leading to a 12-4 advantage after ten minutes. The Yellowjackets scored the first six points of the game, leading to an early CMU timeout.
 
After the Tartans finally got on the board with an Anya Peper 3-pointer and a Payton Baney free throw, the 'Jackets closed the quarter on a 6-0 spurt to grab the 8-point lead. Grace Corelli, Deniz Alparslan and Poulakidas all had baskets late in the quarter to build Rochester's advantage.
 
Back-to-back layups from Dexter and Poulakidas two minutes into the second quarter gave the Yellowjackets their biggest lead of the night, up 18-9.
 
Throughout the rest of the quarter, the Yellowjackets maintained a lead, eventually holding a 25-21 advantage at intermission.
 
Carnegie Mellon's defense took hold in the third quarter, forcing seven Yellowjacket turnovers, allowing the Tartans to chip away at the deficit.
 
Some clutch baskets, including triples by Dinker and Peper, and an and-one play by Nisha Musunuri, capped an 11-2 Tartan run to see CMU edge in front 38-35 with three minutes left in the third.
 
The Yellowjackets responded over those next few minutes though, closing the period on a 6-2 run, with Hazell Nickerson providing five points to head into the fourth up one, 41-40.
 
After CMU scored the first basket of the final stanza to take the lead, Franki Gomez notched a fastbreak layup after an Alparslan steal with 8:27 on the clock.
 
Unfortunately for URochester, that field goal was the only one made by the Yellowjackets until there was just 61 seconds remaining in the game, and one of only three in the final ten minutes.
 
In all, the cold spell allowed the Tartans to go on a 9-3 run over the opening eight and a half minutes of the fourth to go up five with 1:17 left.
 
With 1:01 on the clock, Corelli sank a layup to make it a one-possession game, but after chewing off over 20 seconds, Timko responded with a bucket at the other end for the Tartans.
 
A UR miss and two Timko free throws extended the lead to seven before Poulakidas was fouled and made both to make it a five-point margin.
 
The fouling continued, with Timko only going 1-for-2 at the line, keeping the game within two possessions.
 
After a timeout, Dexter hit a massive 3-pointer with just 15 ticks left to trim the lead, but Niyati Bangalore was clutch at the free throw line at the other end to essentially seal the win, making it a 5-point Tartan lead.
 
Overall, neither team shot well in the contest, with CMU ending at 36% to Rochester's 34%. The Tartans sank five 3-pointers, while the Yellowjackets made just 1-of-10 attempts from beyond the arc. The game also featured 39 combined turnovers, 21 by URochester and 18 by Carnegie Mellon.
 
The Yellowjackets next game is set for Sunday at noon against another UAA opponent, as Case Western Reserve University comes to the Palestra.